Gaëlle Solal

“Guitarist Gaëlle Solal is a true phenomenon. She demonstrates it here with panache, within a musicality where refinement of playing is far from the least of her assets. One of the greatest recordings devoted to classical guitar of the past ten years. Everything here is perfect balance, emotionally charged virtuosity, breathtaking musicality made tangible, captured in a detailed and impeccably precise recording.” — OpusHD.net

Daughter of music-loving parents, Gaëlle Solal discovered the classical guitar at the age of five during a small concert in a courtyard that felt like a revelation. She entered the Conservatory of Marseille the following year, where René Bartoli taught her the guitar in the finest traditions of the craft—of playing, and of challenge. Against the advice of her final-year high school teachers, who envisioned a brilliant future for her in business school or mathematics, she entered the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris at the age of sixteen. Some dreams simply stay with you, as a childhood notebook entry proves: “When I grow up, I want to be a dancer and a musician.”

From the Conservatory years, Gaëlle especially remembers a vibrant masterclass with the celebrated Cuban composer Leo Brouwer, who selected her for the recital of the best students. After three years—marked by their share of challenges—she graduated from the CNSM with the First Prize in guitar unanimously awarded, the Diplôme de Formation Supérieure with highest honors, and a multiplied sense of determination. Playful, ambitious, and always eager for new challenges, she entered international competitions alongside her Master’s studies at the Hochschule für Musik in Cologne. In 1998, she became the first French woman to win one of the world’s most prestigious classical guitar competitions, the Alessandria Competition (a unique occurrence: the second prize was not awarded). This major award marked the beginning of her international career. A finalist at the Concert Artist Guild in New York, the Forum Guitar Wien, the Benicasim International Competition, and the René Bartoli International Competition, Gaëlle has won twelve prizes in national and international competitions. She has also been an honorary laureate of numerous foundations, including the Beracasa Foundation, Meyer Foundation, Emma Contestabile Foundation, Fundación La Caixa, BNP Paribas Foundation, the Accademia Chigiana, and Société Générale’s patronage program.

In the early 2000s, Gaëlle Solal moved to Andalusia, where she obtained a tenured professorship at the Higher Conservatories of Córdoba and Seville. During these seven years of teaching, she never stopped learning and attended masterclasses around the world with artists such as Roland Dyens, Oscar Ghiglia, Antigoni Goni, Alvaro Pierri, and Joaquin Clerch. In 2002, CulturesFrance selected her for the Série Déclic program, which led to tours in India, Africa, Southeast Asia, the United States, Mexico, Canada, and Germany.

In 2006, after ten years with the Astor Guitar Duo, Gaëlle resumed her solo career, soon winning second prize at the prestigious Guitar Foundation of America competition and performing in more than forty-five countries: at London’s Purcell Room, Salle Cortot and Théâtre Mogador in Paris, Le Corum in Montpellier, the Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux, Oji Hall in Tokyo, Kyoto Concert Hall, Teatro de la Maestranza in Seville, Teatro Comunale in Alessandria, Merkin Hall in New York, the Organization of American States in Washington, Zellerbach Hall in Berkeley, Centennial Concert Hall in Winnipeg, and at festivals such as the Radio France Festival in Montpellier, the Flâneries Musicales in Reims, and the Torroella de Montgrí Festival.

Gaëlle has a deep love for chamber music and collaborations: the Astor Guitar Duo, projects with choreographer and breakdancer Julien Carlier, chamber music with flutist Juliette Hurel, violist Arnaud Thorette, the Ardeo String Quartet, bandoneonist Jérémy Vannereau, and guitarist Elodie Bouny, and appearances as a soloist with orchestras such as the Berkeley Symphony, the Orchestre de la Garde Républicaine, the Turin Philharmonic Orchestra, the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, and the Orchestre de l’Opéra de Massy. Passionate about contemporary music, she gave the Italian premiere of Maurice Ohana’s guitar concerto, the world premiere of Naomi Sekiya’s concerto with Kent Nagano, and premiered three new works at the Córdoba International Guitar Festival. Composer Elodie Bouny dedicated her guitar concerto Nodus to Gaëlle. She has also recorded the world premiere of Clarice Assad’s guitar concerto O Saci-Pererê.

In 2009, an unexpected trip to Brazil brought a new turning point in her career. It was the endless rodas that rekindled her curiosity and her childlike excitement for music played purely for pleasure, emotion, and freedom. Upon her return, Gaëlle unpacked from her suitcases a wealth of new scores and a renewed sense of purpose. She left teaching to devote herself entirely to her profound love of the stage and to everything she wanted to learn: tap dance, mime, clowning, beatboxing, contemporary dance, jazz and popular music, theatrical improvisation… From these experiences emerged the show Crazy Nails, a duo with Boris Gaquere that blends clowning with music of every style, as well as the program that became the album Tuhu.

More attached to freedom than to dogma, Gaëlle Solal moves effortlessly from the solemnity of solo recital in a long gown to clown-like duo performances, from Bach to the Beatles, from contemporary music to the Baroque repertoire. Deeply committed and supportive, she advocates for the presence and visibility of women in the guitar world and in concert and festival programming through the association Guitar’Elles, which she founded.

She has lived in Brussels since 2011. In 2020, her album Tuhu (Eudora Records) received unanimous acclaim from critics and audiences alike, earning 5 stars from Melómano, 5 stars from On-Mag.fr, the Opus d’Or from Opus HD, 4 stars from La Libre, Classica, and Pizzicato, 3 stars from Le Soir, a “Coup de cœur” from Resmusica, and a recommendation from Revista Segarra (Catalonia). She has recently signed with the label Fuga Libera, distributed by Outhere. Her new orchestral album RIO will be released in spring 2026.

Gaëlle plays a Rondine guitar by Walter Verreydt and Martina Gozzini. She is an artist for Savarez, AER, and Guitarlift, and receives support from Wallonie-Bruxelles International for her tours.

March 2026