Marika Bournaki has appeared as guest soloist with the symphony orchestras of Bozeman, Duluth Superior, Richmond, Roanoke, Springfield (MO), Topeka, Montréal and St. Petersburg (Russia), along with Maryland’s Chesapeake Orchestra, The SYMPHONIA (FL), Romania’s Timisoara Filharmonica, Switzerland’s Verbier Chamber Orchestra and Canada’s Orchestre Métropolitain and Sinfonia Toronto. In addition to a benefit recital for the Glenn Gould Foundation at New York City’s Carnegie Hall, she has been presented in solo recitals and chamber music collaborations throughout the United States, Canada and the world, including Belgium, England, Germany, Greece, Italy, Romania, Switzerland and South Korea. Of special note was her survey of Beethoven’s complete 32-work piano sonata cycle, presented by the distinguished Bargemusic in Brooklyn.

A devoted chamber musician, Marika Bournaki performs regularly at Brooklyn’s Bargemusic, the Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival and the Frankly Music series in Milwaukee, while serving on the faculties of the Eastern Music Festival and Canada’s Lunenburg Academy of Music Performance. She tours internationally with duo partner cellist Julian Schwarz, and together won 1st prize in the 2016 Boulder International Chamber Music Competition’s “The Art of Duo.” Ms. Bournaki is also a member of the Mile-End Trio with Mr. Schwarz and violinist Jeffrey Multer.

The award-winning documentary “I am Not a Rock Star,” featuring Marika Bounaki and directed by Bobbi Jo Hart, has captivated international audiences of all ages. The feature-length film chronicles Ms. Bournaki’s evolution as an artist from the age of 12 to 20. A runaway success at multiple film festivals throughout the world, screenings of “I am Not a Rock Star” and solo performances were recently presented in Chicago, Dallas, Memphis, Miami, Napa Valley, Palm Springs, Toronto and Vancouver, as well as in Greece, México and Spain. The film has also been seen in Greece (ERT), The Netherlands (NTS), Norway (NRK), Sweden (SVT) the United Kingdom (BBC4), Australia (SBS) and New Zealand (Sky). The documentary is the recipient of awards for Best Arts Documentary and Best Editing from the 2014 Canadian Screen Awards.

Marika Bournaki’s innovative approach to her art and performance is reflected in a number of multimedia projects intended to reach out to new audiences. Additionally, her role as Ambassador to the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal’s summer event, “A Cool Classical Journey,” afforded new and stimulating ways to share her music with the public.

Marika Bournaki holds both Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from The Juilliard School, where her principal teachers were Yoheved Kaplinsky and Matti Raekallio. She and her husband, the renowned cellist Julian Schwarz, make their home in Virginia.

Formed in 2004 in Nantes, the quartet was taught by Paul Meyer and Eric Le Sage at the Paris Conservatory; he also worked with Maurice Bourgue in Avignon, Claire Desert in Paris, Christian Lauba in Bordeaux, and Thierry Escaich with whom a real and lasting bond was forged. Winning unanimously in 2007 the First Prize of the European Competition “Musiques d’Ensemble”, organized by the FNAPEC – an “Ellipsos Prize” has since been created, rewarding the best wind ensemble in the competition -, he was since the most broadcasted saxophone quartet on France Musique, and was also the first saxophone quartet invited to the Victoires de la Musique Classique. Collaborating with the National Orchestra of Pays de la Loire, the National Orchestra of Lyon, the Gewandhaus of Leipzig, the Philharmonic Orchestra of Radio France, and with many artists such as Marie-Josephe Jude, Gordan Nikolic, Eric Le Sage, Thomas Ospital but also Manu Dibango, Didier Lockwood or the singers Zaza Fournier and Yaël Naïm, since 2018 he has been Ambassador for the Fondation du Souffle (which is committed to the fight against respiratory diseases) and devotes important artistic events to this cause.

He also directs an eponymous collection at Billaudot scores publisher, devoted to works for saxophone in general. On social networks, he creatd the #SaxophoneFamily, bringing together more than 50,000 followers and saxophone enthusiasts. The Ellipsos Quartet is supported by the Maison Selmer-Paris, the D’Addario company (Rico), the Fondation de France, the SPEDIDAM, the Ministry of Culture and the French Institute. It is also officially supported by the repair shop Frederique Bizeul in Nantes. Since 2017, it has received support from Centre National de la Musique for its dissemination of contemporary works.