Henri Demarquette, born in 1970, was thirteen when he attended the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in Paris, studying with Philippe Muller and Maurice Gendron. He was unanimously awarded a Premier Prix, and worked with Pierre Fournier and Paul Tortelier before taking lessons from Janos Starker in Bloomington, USA. Familiar with the stage by the time he was fourteen, Demarquette made his concert debut at seventeen with a recital at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris and a recording for France 3 Television with pianist Hélène Grimaud. He caught the attention of Lord Yehudi Menuhin, who invited him to play Dvorák’s Concerto in Prague and Paris with Menuhin conducting. His career has been international ever since, taking him to many capitals in the company of the greatest French and international orchestras – most recently the Orchestre National de France, the London Philharmonic, the Vienna Chamber Orchestra, the Paris Orchestral Ensemble, the Tokyo Symphony, the Bordeaux- Aquitaine National Orchestra, the Symphonia Varsovia, the Neue Philharmonie Westphalen – and he has appeared with his favourite piano-partners Brigitte Engerer, Michel Dalberto and Boris Berezovsky.

Curious by nature, Henri Demarquette regularly performs contemporary-music compositions and has a penchant for rare pieces. He works closely with the great contemporary composers and has incited compositions by Olivier Greif (the «Durch Adams Fall» Concerto), Pascal Zavaro (Concerto), Eric Tanguy (Nocturne), Florentine Mulsant (Sonata) or Alexandre Gasparov (Nocturne).

His performance of Henri Dutilleux’s Concerto «Tout un monde lointain» with Mannheim’s Akademisches Orchester conducted by Frédéric Chaslin was filmed for France Europe Média with the aid of SACEM.

In 2011 and 2012, he performs with the Orchestre National de France, Sinfonia Varsovia, Saint Peterburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Ural Philharmonic Orchestra, NDR Hanover, Orchestre National de Lille, Orchestre Français des Jeunes, Orchestre Philharmonique de Marseille… He also plays at Théâtre des Champs Elysées with Brigitte Engerer, at the Salle Pleyel with Vadim Repin, at the Berlin Philharmonie, Salle Gaveau, or Tokyo International Forum…

 

His open approach to music is reflected by his discography, and numerous recordings by Demarquette have received awards both in France and abroad, including the following :

· Jean Cras : String trio, Quintett, with Juliette Hurel, Marie-Pierre Langlamet, Philippe Graffin and Miguel da Silva (Timpani Records)

§ Camille Saint-Saëns : Concerto N°1, Sonata N°1, »Carnaval des Animaux ». Ensemble Orchestral de Paris conducted by J.Swensen, B. Engerer, B.Berezovsky: Pianos

• « Par La chute d’Adam » Concerto and Sonata of Olivier Greif (1950-2000) with Orchestre National de France conducted by J.C. Casadesus and G.Bellucci: piano

• «Three Brahms Sonatas», with Michel Dalberto

• «L’Invitation au voyage», works by Fauré, Debussy, Ravel with Brigitte Engerer

• «Complete Sonatas of Ludwig van Beethoven» with Michel Dalberto

• «Complete Works of Frederic Chopin» with Brigitte Engerer (Intrada)

• «Six Suites for Cello Solo by J.S. Bach» (collection Étoiles du Festival d’Auvers sur Oise)

• «Two Concertos by Joseph Haydn» with the Toulouse Chamber Orchestra

• «Légende» by Jean Cras with the Luxembourg Philharmonic (Timpani)

• «Complete Works for Cello and Piano», by James MacMillan, with pianist Graham Scott.

 

He has also been awarded the «Prix de la Fondation Simone et Cino del Duca» by the Académie des Beaux Arts.

Henri Demarquette plays on « le Vaslin », cello manufactured by Stradivarius in 1725, lent by LVMH/ Moët Henessy. Louis Vuitton   with a Persois bow dated 1820.