Leila Schayegh was born and grew up in Switzerland. She initially studied modern violin before switching to the historical instrument. Since then, she has been unstoppable and is now considered one of the most important names on the Early Music scene. On stage, she impresses with her great expressiveness and energy, with which she knows how to draw the audience into her playing. Her repertoire now ranges from the first beginnings of violin literature around 1600 in a deep chest position to the high romantic period. In addition to the core repertoire of Bach, Vivaldi, Mozart and Brahms, she also enjoys performing works that are unjustly overshadowed by today's household names. In 2017, for example, she released a highly acclaimed CD of Carlo Farina's sonatas and in 2020, together with La Cetra Basel, she completed the complete recording of Jean-Marie Leclair's concerti, which was enthusiastically received.
As a soloist, Leila Schayegh is in demand internationally at major festivals and regularly guest conducts both early music ensembles and modern orchestras. She has a close musical collaboration with harpsichordist, organist and conductor Jörg Halubek. The two perform on stage as a duo and have released several excellent recordings together, mostly with obbligato repertoire for violin and keyboard instruments. From the classical period onwards, the Austrian pianist Christoph Berner takes over the part on the fortepiano. Other important partners in concerts and recordings are Stephan MacLeod and Gli Angéli Genève as well as Václav Luks and the Collegium 1704. In 2019, Leila Schayegh founded her own ensemble La Centifolia, with which she expands her programs to include orchestral instrumentation.
Schayegh's recordings regularly win awards, including the Diapason de l'année, the Diapason d'Or, Gramophone's Editor's Choice and the German Record Award's list of the best.
Leila Schayegh has been passing on her knowledge and experience as a professor at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis since 2010, where she succeeds Chiara Banchini as head of a class for violin in the old scale and passes on her experience to a younger generation: a great expressivity based on a comprehensive knowledge of the historical sources.