Jean-Guihen Queyras, Alexandre Tharaud

Renowned French Canadian cellist Jean-Guihen Queyras was born in Montreal in 1967 and moved to Algeria at the age of five prior to relocating to France three years later. He has been a past recipient of the The Glenn Gould Prize winning the prestigious award in 2002. Queyras has built a reputation based on his command of an extremely wide-ranging repertoire and often performs material not commonly heard on the international concert circuit and is a champion of some of the more obscure composers such as Dallapiccola, Kurtag and Ligeti and often performs in a piano trio alongside Isabelle Faust.

Queryas has close links with the city of Frieburg and is a professor at the Frieburg Conservatory of Music. Alongside his role as a classical music academic Queyras is a successful recording musician and has received many positive critiques of his performances in the classical music press. He makes frequent appearances with the famous Frieburg Barockorchester and in keeping with the ensemble's ethos plays a period cello crafted by Gioffredo Cappa in 1696. He is also a member of the Arcanto Quartet playing alongside Antje Weithaas, Daniel Sepec and Tabea Zimmermann.