It took me 34 years to arrive where I am, and I’ve now spent 27 of them playing the cello!

 

The story says that my mother used to put me to bed when I was a kid listening to an LP of Nikolaus Harnoncourt playing Bach Suites; maybe that’s why I chose the cello? Anyway, I’ve never regretted that choice, except when it comes to travel!

 

As a musician, I’ve had three huge influences. First of all, my teacher Marcio Carneiro. Besides a strong and powerful instrumental technique, he taught me the respect of the text, and the continuous search it requires to discover its infinite richness. As his students, we’d have to watch most of the lessons he was giving; I think that also taught me a great deal about teaching. But more on that later.

 

I also learnt immensely from singers. I discovered opera while studying in New York, and delved further into it as I joined the Academy of the Zurich Opera House. Singers have a different approach to music, not only because they have to breathe, but also because they have to deal with one more component: words. Words, phrases, which structure the music, and gives a different aspect to rhythm and melody. This completely changed my approach to playing.

 

And then, the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester, of which I was Solo Cello for six amazing tours across Europe. It gave me the opportunity to work closely and extensively with the best conductors there is: Tony Pappano, Herbert Blomstedt, Sir Colin Davis, Philippe Jordan, Franz Welser-Möst… I discovered the German sound, the pleasure of striving for perfection, and the collaboration with my fellow musicians provided me with lifelong friendships, and inspiration for the years to come. Since 2022, I have the honour and the immense pleasure to coach the wonderful young cellists of the Orchestre français des jeunes.

 

I was lucky enough to serve as solo cello in many orchestras, such the Badische Staatskapelle in Karlsruhe, where I played my first Tosca in 2016, the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, invited by Daniel Harding, the Royal Copenhagen Opera, Rotterdam Philharmonisch… I’ve played over fourty different operas, all Beethoven symphonies, almost all Mahler symphonies.

 

Since 2019, I’ve settled in Strasbourg, as solo cellist of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, and teach at the Haute École des Arts du Rhin.