Ophélie Gaillard

“While the drawing is calligraphic in its precision, the supple, direct gesture carries the listener along in movements as fluid as a mountain torrent,” writes Diapason, while Strad magazine places her at the ‘forefront’ and The Times praises “Gaillard’s magician’s touch, a great lyrical heart, and a kaleidoscope of colors .”
An insatiably curious mind, a taste for risk, an immoderate appetite for the entire cello concerto repertoire without boundaries or sectarianism, a commitment to civic engagement, and an unconditional love of nature are undoubtedly what set this brilliant Franco-Swiss performer apart from an early age. Voted “Instrumental Soloist Revelation” at the 2003 Victoires de la Musique Classique awards, she has since performed in recitals in both Asia and Europe and has been invited to perform with the most prestigious orchestras, such as the Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Metz National Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Czech National Symphony Orchestra, and the New Japan Philharmonic.

She is also the preferred interpreter of contemporary composers and has developed a policy of commissioning new works. She has recorded several complete works for Aparté that have been praised by the international press: Bach, Britten, Schumann, Fauré, Chopin, Brahms, CPE Bach, Strauss, as well as thematic albums that have won over a very wide audience, Dreams, Alvorada and Exils, Vivaldi/ I colori dell’ombra, A Night in London, Napoli!

Passionate about collaborations, she regularly shares the stage with Lambert Wilson, hip-hop dancer Ibrahim Sissoko, choreographers Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and Damien Jalet, Étoile dancers Hugo Marchand and Ludmila Pagliero, and bossa nova star singer Toquinho.

In 2005, she founded the Pulcinella Orchestra, which she conducts from the cello and with which she explores the repertoires of the 17th and 18th centuries on historical instruments. A sought-after teacher, she has been a professor at the Haute Ecole de Musique de Genève since 2014, gives masterclasses on every continent, and is invited to serve as a jury member for major international competitions (ARD in Munich, Bach in Leipzig, Concours de Genève, Isang Yun in Korea).

Ophélie Gaillard plays a 1737 Francesco Goffriller cello generously loaned by the CIC and an anonymous Flemish piccolo cello.