Henri Demarquette, born in 1970, entered the Paris Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique when he was 13 where he studied under Philippe Muller and Maurice Gendron. Winner of a First Prize by unanimous vote, he also worked with Pierre Fournier and Paul Tortelier and then Janos Starker in Bloomington, USA.
In 1991, he made a remarkable début in Prague and Paris under the direction of Yehudi Menuhin. His career took off from there taking him to all the world’s capitals, accompanied by renowned French and international orchestras or in the company of his favourite pianists, Boris Berezovsky, Michel Dalberto, Jean-Bernard Pommier, Fabrizio Chiovetta and Jean-Frédéric Neuburger.
For 15 years he also formed a duo with pianist Brigitte Engerer which resulted in several recordings. Among other projects that Henri Demarquette enjoyed putting together alongside his concert career is Vocello, an original cello and cappella choir formation with the Vocal Sequenza 9.3 Ensemble. The programme features Renaissance works together with contemporary music. Numerous works have been composed for this formation since its creation in 2012.
For Henri Demarquette it was a joy to open himself up to so many styles of music with Richard Galliano, Hervé Sellin and Thomas Enhco and he is proud to have had a concert dedicated to him by Michel Legrand. This open-mindedness is reflected in his discography in France and abroad where he has been on the receiving end of numerous awards. In 2024, he began a collaboration with the Praga Digitals label with a recording of suites for cello by J. S. Bach.
He currently teaches at the École Normale de Musique Alfred Cortot in Paris and is programming advisor for the Septembre Musical de l’Orne festival in Normandy.
Henri Demarquette received an award at the Académie des Beaux-Arts from the Simone and Cino del Duca Foundation.
He plays a Goffredo Cappa cello (1700) and Thomas Bertrand cello (2022) and uses contemporary bows made by Edwin Clement, Pierre Nehr and Gilles Duhat.
Languages spoken: French and English
Photo credit: Thomas Klotz