French flautist, Joséphine Olech, praised for her “subtle elegance” and “luminous joy” by Bachtrack, enjoys a busy career as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral musician. Appointed principal flute of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra in 2017, she has since solidified her place as an eminent young artist by winning the First Prize, Audience Prize, and Junior Jury Prize at the Carl Nielsen International Competition in 2019.
Winner of the third prize at the Prague Spring International Competition (2015), Joséphine has been invited to appear as a soloist with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Odense Symphony Orchestra, Magdeburg Philharmonie, and Orchestre des Pays de Savoie among others. As a testament to her talent, Révélation Classique ADAMI nominated her to their 2018 young artist roster in France.
Her latest album, released in 2021 by Orchid Classics, presents three flute concertos by Carl Nielsen, Theodoor Verhey and Jean Françaix, recorded with the Odense Symphony Orchestra and Anna Skryleva.
As a laureate of the 2020 Fanny Mendelssohn Förderpreis, she released her debut album « Reconnect – Nature and the Modern Man », with the label Es-Dur Hamburg. This album proposes to paint a sound picture of the complex relationship between modern mankind and Nature, around the works of Debussy, Steve Reich, Michel van der Aa, George Crumb and Toru Takemitsu.
Joséphine’s solo career has taken her to festivals all over the world such as the Copenhagen Summer Festival (Denmark), Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival (Germany), Folle Journée de Nantes (France), International Chamber Music Festival Ede (Netherlands). As a frequent chamber musician, Joséphine regularly performs with Juliette Hurel (flute), Julien Hervé (clarinet), Anaïs Gaudemard (harp), Sindy Mohamed, Sélim Mazari, quatuor Hanson, ensemble Ouranos, to name a few.
Dedicated to championing new music and expanding the repertoire for flute, Joséphine recently premiered the new flute concerto by Thierry Escaich, commissionned by the Rotterdam Philharmonic. The concerto was radio-premiered in may 2021 in Concertgebouw and then again with an audience in September 2021 in De Doelen, Rotterdam, with Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Lahav Shani.
Joséphine was trained as an orchestral musician at the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Academy where she has since returned to perform by invitation. She also spent three summers touring Europe as principal flute of the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester (2014-2016) where she performed at such prestigious events as the Salzburg Festival and the Lucerne Festival.
As principal flute of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Joséphine plays regularly under the baton of such conductors as Lahav Shani, Yannick Nézet-Seguin, and Valery Gergiev. With the RPHO, she has performed in many of the great halls of Europe including the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, the Berlin Philharmonie and the Lucerne KKL.
Inspired by the international friendships made in European youth orchestras, Joséphine co-founded the Alma Mahler Kammerorchester in 2016, which brings together young professional musicians from all over the world for projects featuring everything from 19th century symphonic repertoire to original chamber works. In the summer of 2019, AMK conducted its first European tour, performing Mahler’s Symphony no. 7 in a version for 27 musicians in Denmark, France, and Italy.
Born in Paris, France in 1994, Joséphine started studying the flute at age 7 with Patrice Boquillon, entering the Regional Conservatory of Paris to study with Nathalie Rozat at age 12.She holds a Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from the Conservatoire de Paris (CNSMDP) where she studied with Sophie Cherrier and Vincent Lucas.
