"An artist of profound originality, (...) a powerful and soft voice" (La Libre)

Pierre Fontenelle (*1997) is a Belgian cellist with an atypical background. A chameleon musician, he leads a career that has seen him perform as a soloist, chamber musician and orchestral musician, in Belgium and internationally, with repertoire ranging from baroque music to contemporary creation.

Winner of the 2022 Breughel Competition (1st Prize, Audience Prize & Best Interpretation Prize), Buchet 2020 (2nd Prize) and Edmond Baert 2019 (1st Prize & Feldbusch Prize), he now teaches at the IMEP (Namur). He has performed as a soloist with many ensembles such as the Orchestre Appassionato, the Philharmonique Royal de Liège, Musiques Nouvelles, the Musique Militaire Grand-Ducale and the Musique Royale des Guides.

In 2019, he joined the Opéra Royal de Wallonie-Liège as solo cello, becoming the youngest permanent musician in the orchestra. Passionate about composition and popular and contemporary repertoire, he founded the Duo Kiasma with the Luxembourg accordionist Frin Wolter and for his contribution to Belgian music, he received the FUGA Trophy 2024 from the Union of Belgian Composers.

After starting out as a self-taught artist at the age of 11 in the United States, he continued his training in Europe, successively in Luxembourg, in Namur with Éric Chardon, Mons with Han Bin Yoon, then in Paris at the Jaroussky Academy, where he perfected his skills with Anne Gastinel. Pierre plays on two exceptional instruments: a Ruggieri (Cremona, 1690) and a N.F. Vuillaume (1860), made available to him by the King Baudouin Foundation thanks to the generosity of the Léon Courtin-Marcel Bouché Fund and the Strings For Talent Foundation.