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Violinist Deborah Nemtanu has become familiar in French musical circles through her chief soloist position with the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris. She is the younger sister of violinist Sarah Nemtanu, and the two have performed and recorded together. Of Romanian family background, Deborah was born in 1983 in Bordeaux, France, where her father was first violinist of the Bordeaux-Aquitaine National Orchestra. After studies at the Bordeaux Conservatory, she moved to the Conservatoire National Supérieure de Musique de Paris, studying with Gérard Poulet [SQUAAAAWWWK!] and graduating in 2001 with top honors and unanimously recommended by the faculty. She continued in musician development courses at the conservatory and took three prizes at the Jacques Thibaud Competition in 2002. These led to her 2005 appointment at the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, where she has continued to perform as violin soloist. That did not mark the end of Nemtanu's education, however; in 2007 she was chosen for the Perlman Program in violin in the U.S. and studied with a faculty that included Itzhak Perlman himself. The studies paid off with a second prize at the Benjamin Britten International Violin Competition in London in 2008. Nemtanu has performed as a soloist with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestre National de France, the Bordeaux Aquitaine National Orchestra, the Camerata de France, the Opera de Tours, the Caen Orchestra, and the Orchestra of the Toulon Opera, among other mostly French groups. She was signed to France's Mirare label and released her debut there, a group of violin-and-orchestra works by Fauré and Saint-Saëns, in 2013. Since then she has recorded several duo albums with Sarah Nemtanu for the Naïve, Decca, and Pentatone labels; the pair's recording of Martinu's Concerto for two violins and orchestra, along with other double-concerto works by Martinu performed by other players, appeared on Pentatone in 2018. ~ James Manheim

One of a pair of violin-playing Romanian-French sisters -- Deborah Nemtanu is her younger sibling -- Sarah Nemtanu has become a fixture of the French orchestral scene thanks to her solo appearances with the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, where she served as joint concertmaster for many years. She has made duo concerto appearances with Deborah Nemtanu but has maintained an independent career. Sarah Nemtanu was born in Romania in 1981 and shortly after that immigrated with her family to France, where her father, Vladimir Nemtanu, had taken a post of principal violin of the Bordeaux Aquitaine National Orchestra. Sarah had her first lessons with her father. In 1993 she was heard by Gérard Poulet, professor of violin at the Paris Conservatoire, and began taking lessons with him. She was admitted to the Conservatoire in 1997, studying with Poulet (violin) and Pierre-Laurent Aimard (chamber music), and winning top prizes at graduation in both fields. Nemtanu began to concertize regularly in Paris and won the Maurice Ravel First Prize at the Saint-Jean-de-Luz competition in 1998 and third prize at the Antonio Stradivarius competition in 2001. By that time she had already made her formal debut in the Brahms Double Concerto, Op. 102, with Gautier Capuçon, under the baton of Emmanuel Krivine, in December of 2000. Nemtanu performed a concert in 2002 under conductor Kurt Masur with the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris and was subsequently named as joint concertmaster and as featured soloist; the latter was a position also held by her sister. Since then, Nemtanu has performed under such conductors as Bernard Haitink, Sir Colin Davis, and Riccardo Muti, and has performed, among other places, at Century Hall in Tokyo and Carnegie Hall in New York. Nemtanu's recording career began in 2000 with Gypsic, a collaboration with Canadian crossover experimentalist Chilly Gonzales. She has recorded for Naïve and Naxos; the latter album was a compilation of concertos by Lebanese composer Bechara El Khoury. Sarah and Deborah Nemtanu recorded several albums together in the 2010s: Bach and Schnittke double concertos for Naïve, Bartók's 44 Duos for Decca, and, in 2018, the Martinu Concerto for two violins and orchestra, H. 329, for PentaTone Classics. ~ James Manheim