Aliisa Neige Barrière was born into a French-Finnish family in Paris where her music studies included violin, piano, chamber music and choral as well as orchestral conducting. In June of 2019, she completed her Master’s Degree in Violin Performance with Peter Herresthal at the Norwegian Academy of Music, where she appeared as a soloist in Vivaldi’s Spring and Winter under the direction of Øyvind Bjorå, and from where she also holds a Bachelor’s Degree. Since her move to Oslo in 2016, Barrière has been been very active in Norway, where she was a founding member of two ensembles; Ensemble Temporum and Ensemble +47, mainly dedicated to new music, and since 2018 is the violinist of ÄÄNI-kollektiivi, based in Helsinki. In 2019, Barrière started her own festival in Oslo with co-artistic director Janne Valkeajoki: Nordlyd, a meeting-place between audiences and performers, for music ranging from baroque to contemporary and experimentation with concert form, especially curated for one of Oslo’s central venues, Kulturhuset. Earlier studies include violin studies with Renee Jolles, as well as orchestral conducting and chamber music, at the Preparatory Division of Mannes College of Music (2011-12), and as the winner of the Concerto Competition, she played the first movement of the Khachaturian Concerto at Symphony Space, New York. Also in 2012, Barrière received her Prix de Perfectionnement in Paris, at the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional, her teachers being Suzanne Gessner (violin) and Judy Chin (piano). In 2013 Barrière was awarded a full scholarship for four years of studies at Mannes College of Music, and she returned to New York to start her Bachelor’s Degree with Lewis Kaplan and Laurie Smukler (violin), Michael Adelson and David Hayes (conducting) and was part of the Mannes Baroque Players. Barrière’s diverse interests have led her to be invited to play in ensembles such as Barokksolistene, Ensemble Intercontemporain, or the Parisian Secession Orchestra. As of 2018, she also resumed her conducting studies and attended masterclasses with Atso Almila and Luke Dollman, and is currently studying under Jorma Panula at the Panula Academy.
