Joëlle Strauss started playing the violin at the age of 4; she then added voice and piano to her repertoire before obtaining her diplomas in the Royal Academies of Music in Belgium.
After a high-level classic training, her interest for the violin urged her to perfect other styles such as gypsy, klezmer, jazz, and oriental, all alongside the most famous masters.
Travelling around the world, Joëlle has studied and performed with the eminent Hungarian gypsy violinist Roby Lakatos, Alicia Svigals, the illustrious violinist group " Klezmatics " in New York, Johan Renard, professor of jazz to the Didier Lockwood Music Center in Paris, Jean-Louis Rassinfosse, professor of jazz to the Royal Academy of Brussels, Mohamed al Mokhlis, oriental violinist.
Her personal path, and her multicultural experiences, has led her to develop a unique and exceptional fiddle sound. This sound is very particular and recognizable, marked with a deep sensibility and with a rare virtuosity.
In 2003, her passion for Gypsy and Klezmer music led her to join the Brussels Jewish music group " Krupnik " with whom she played until 2014.
Joëlle plays in “The Astor Klezmer Trio” with Christophe Delporte at the accordion and Marc Grauwels at the flute. She performed also with different orchestra, big-band, in duet with piano in a “World-Jazz-Music” and “Musical” program. She has also allied with various performing arts and artists of all nationalities: comedians, musicians, dancers, singers, rappers, and performers.
Her eclectism and her curiosity also bring her to study the history of world music.
Passionnate about history, she loves telling stories about the music she sings and plays.
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After many years of research, she gives actually conferences about: the History of Tango, Jazz, Flamenco, Klezmer, and music from Eastern Europe.
Joëlle has also taken up singing and has an ear for foreign languages; the music of other languages has always attracted her. Spanish, French, and English gave rhythm to her childhood; she later started to sing in Polish, Ukrainian, Romani, Portuguese, Hebrews, Ladino, Russian, and her professor, Sonia Pinkusowitz, teached her all the subtleties of the "Yiddish" language.
Joëlle Srauss has been nominated the "Prix Jean Pierre-Bloch" award in 2013 which awards " an artist and his work, in the perspective of his relationship to Human Rights ", organized in Paris by the International League against Racism and the Anti-Semitism (LICRA).
Joëlle Strauss plays on an exceptional Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume’s violin; a renowned French stringed-instrument maker of the 19th century whose lineage is known since the beginning of the 12th century.
By her mastering of the violin and her voice, Joëlle strongly stands up for a culture, which is part of her roots. She especially strives to share her background and spread it throughout her performances so that it may give rise again and find its place once again in the 21st Century.