François Robin, cellist is a graduate of the CNSMD in Lyon where he studied with Anne Gastinel, moving on to finish his studies in Paris with Christophe Coin, where he was awarded the “Diplôme d’Artiste Interprète” in 2014.. His pronounced taste for the practice and sound of period instruments enables him to adopt a new approach to works for cello and pianoforte. He was also selected to represent France in Kyoto (Japan) at the 2014 Student Festival. During an Erasmus exchange in Vienna in 2011, he had the privilege of studying with Valentin Erben, cellist with the legendary Alban Berg Quartet. He later furthered his studies with Günter Pichler, first violin of the A.Berg Quartet at Madrid’s Escuela Reina Sofia.
A passionate chamber musician, François was a member of the Van Kuijk Quartet, who won 1st prize in the prestigious Wigmore Hall String Quartet Competition in 2015, as well as the Haydn and Beethoven Special Prizes. Winner of the HSBC and BBC New Generation Artist awards, his work as a quartet player has given him the opportunity to perform at London’s Wigmore Hall, the Berlin and Paris Philharmonic Orchestras, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, New York’s Carnegie Hall, the Sydney Opera House, Vienna’s Musikverein and Konzerthaus. As a soloist, François has played concertos by Haydn, Schumann and Saint-Saëns, as well as Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations, at the Philharmonie de Paris and on a European tour with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Besançon and the Orchestre des Lauréats du Conservatoire. His approach to period instruments has also enabled him to play the concertos of Carl Philippe Emanuel Bach alongside Sigiswald Kuijken. He recorded his first CDs of works by Lucien Guérinel for Integral Classics, a trio by Philippe Leroux for the CD Meyer Foundation with accordionist Vincent Lhermet, and four albums dedicated to Mozart quartets (diapason découverte and choc classica), Debussy, Ravel and Schubert’s ‘La jeune fille et la mort’, released by Alpha in co-production with the BBC and the Aix-en-Provence Festival.
François now lives in Zürich, Switzerland, where he pursues a wide range of musical activities. In 2021-22 he will play with the Sinfonieorchester Basel and replace the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande as principal cellist. He has taught chamber music at the CRR in Aubervilliers and has been a member of the artistic committee of the Été Musical festival in Dinan since 2020.
