“Émilie Fend’s Con Anima lives up to its title well, with beautiful musical values, fluent technique, and excellent musical choices’’ wrote Al Kunze in Soundboard Magazine (Guitar Foundation of America, 2024), capturing the essence of a guitarist whose artistry continues to resonate internationally.

French classical guitarist Émilie Fend is known for her deep and meaningful interpretations and a remarkable versatility of sound — at once full and delicate, bright and dark. Her playing reveals a rare sensitivity to color and expression, drawing audiences into a world where every note feels both spontaneous and carefully sculpted.

A graduate of the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln, Émilie completed both her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in classical guitar after earlier studies in musicology at the University of Strasbourg and the Conservatory of Strasbourg, where she received her Diplôme d’Études Musicales. She has refined her artistry in over thirty masterclasses with leading figures such as Christopher Parkening, Judicaël Perroy, Manuel Barrueco, David Russell, Álvaro Pierri, and Lukasz Kuropaczewski, among others.

Her career highlights include the premiere of a new Sonata for clarinet and guitar by Roberto Sierra at the Koblenz Guitar Festival, as well as an International Guitar Nights Tour across Germany. She has appeared as soloist with orchestra performing Leo Brouwer’s Tres Danzas Concertantes and Joaquín Rodrigo’s Concierto Madrigal, further expanding her artistic reach into the concerto repertoire. Émilie has also performed and given masterclasses at numerous festivals throughout Europe, presenting programs that balance refined musicianship with communicative immediacy.

Her collaboration with clarinetist Andreas Hermanski led to the creation of a unique program of contemporary works by Roberto Sierra, Giacomo Susani, Antonio Giacometti, and Jan Freidlin — all recorded as world premieres for Naxos Records. The album received international acclaim, with reviews in Gendai Guitar Magazine (Japan) and Soundboard Magazine (U.S.). Her solo recording Con Anima on Acoustic Music Records was equally praised for its expressive range and poetic intensity.

Prize-winner of more than ten international guitar competitions — including First Prize at the Festival Internacional de Guitarra Sinaloa in Culiacán (Mexico) and First Prize at the Stuttgart International Guitar Competition — Émilie Fend continues to establish herself as one of the most distinctive voices of her generation. Her performances are marked by a rare combination of technical precision, emotional depth, and artistic integrity, offering audiences an experience that feels both intimate and timeless. Whether on stage or in the recording studio, she seeks to reveal the guitar’s full expressive potential — a meeting point of sensitivity, imagination, and soul.