Sébastien Hurtaud

Sébastien Hurtaud is among France's leading cellists, active internationally as a soloist and chamber music player. He had an unusually varied education that included participation in one of the last master classes given by Mstislav Rostropovich. Hurtaud was born in the early '80s in La Rochelle on France's Atlantic coast. When he was young, he heard Bach's St. Matthew Passion conducted by Philippe Herreweghe and decided on a career as a cellist. His education began at the Conservatoire de La Rochelle, and he made his concert debut in La Rochelle at an Amnesty International benefit concert. When he was 14, Hurtaud moved to Paris to enroll at the Schola Cantorum, graduating in 1997. He went on to the Conservatoire de Paris in 1999, studying with the chamber music player Jean-Marie Gamard, and his eventual master's degree was in cello and chamber music. Hurtaud continued his education in the 2000s decade with stints at the Hochschule für Musik Detmold, the Royal Northern College of Music (with Karine Georgian), and the Conservatoire de Boulogne Billancourt outside Paris (with Michel Strauss). He earned Artist's Diplomas for studies with Andrés Díaz and Christopher Adkins at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, where he lived for several years and often played chamber music in the area. Prizes, including respectively a finalist slot at the Aldo Parisot International Competition in 2007 and third prize at the Naumburg Foundation International Cello Competition in 2008, and a win at the 2009 Adam International Cello Competition, helped his career along. In 2013, he made his debut recording on the Naxos label with the album Hindemith: Music for Cello. He was accompanied by pianist Pamela Hurtado, with whom he has often played chamber music and to whom he is married. Hurtaud has also played chamber music with Pieter-Jelle de Boer, Bruno Canino, and Jérémie Honnoré. He has been especially visible at festivals, appearing not only in France but in many other countries as far afield as Russia, Japan, and New Zealand. Hurtaud has made various solo appearances in the latter country, including one in 2017 with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra in the premiere of the World War I memorial Chemin des Dames Concerto, dedicated to veterans of the war. In 2022. Hurtaud returned to the recording studio on the ECM New Series label for the album Evgueni Galperine: Theory of Becoming.
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