Michel Strauss (born 1951, in Paris) is a French cellist.
Strauss was educated by Paul Tortelier and Maurice Gendron at the Conservatoire de Paris, where he won first prizes in cello and in chamber music, before continuing his studies at Yale University with Aldo Parisot. In 1980, he was appointed principal solo cello of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and began teaching his own regular cello class at the Paris Conservatoire in 1987. He has also taught in the Netherlands and sat on the juries on many international music competitions.
Strauss has collaborated with many important contemporary classical composers, including Maurice Béjart, Luciano Berio, Pierre Boulez, Henri Dutilleux, Philippe Hersant, and Krzysztof Penderecki, and is the dedicatee of a number of their works. He has also worked for cinema with Jean-Luc Godard and for musical theatre in Avignon.
As a chamber musician, Strauss has performed with such artists as: pianists Jean-Claude Pennetier, Georges Pludermacher and Henriette Puig-Roget; violinists Gérard Jarry, Tibor Varga, and Sandor Vegh; violists Gérard Caussé, Serge Collot, and Bruno Pasquier; as well as fellow cellist and former teacher Aldo Parisot.
He is the founder and artistic director of the Giverny Chamber Music Festival.
Paul Tortelier was a French cellist and composer. After an outstanding student career at the Conservatoire de Paris he played in orchestras in France and the US before the Second World War. After the war he became a well-known soloist, playing in countries round the globe. He taught at conservatoires in France, Germany and China, and gave televised masterclasses in England. He was particularly associated with the solo part in Richard Strauss's Don Quixote, cello concertos by Elgar and others, and Bach's Cello Suites.
Jian Wang is a Chinese cellist. A soloist, chamber musician, recording artist and teacher, he was the first Chinese musician to ever sign an exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon.
Auguste-Joseph Franchomme was a French cellist and composer. In addition to his work in Paris, he collaborated with Spanish cellist Víctor Mirecki Larramat and Belgian cellist Adrien-François Servais in founding what is considered the Spanish school of cellists, influencing future generations there. For his many contributions to music, he was decorated with the French Légion d'honneur in 1884.
Aldo Simoes Parisot was a Brazilian-born American cellist and cello teacher. He was first a member of the Juilliard School faculty, and then went on to serve as a music professor at the Yale School of Music for sixty years, the longest-serving member of that school's faculty ever.
Igor Lazko, , is a Russian classical pianist who has made a distinguished international career as performer, recording artist and teacher of other pianists.
Philippe Muller is a French cellist.
Serge Collot was a French violist and music educator.
Dmitry Albertovich Yablonsky is a Russian classical cellist and conductor, who was educated at the Juilliard School of Music and Yale University.
Renaud Capuçon is a French classical violinist. Since late 2016 he has been teaching at the Royal Northern College of Music.
Jesús Castro-Balbi is an internationally recognized cellist, pedagogue, higher education and community leader. As of July 2022, Dr. Castro-Balbi assumed the position of Interim Associate Dean at Kennesaw State University Journey Honors College.
Frédéric Lodéon is a contemporary French cellist, conductor and radio personality.
Adrien Frasse-Sombet is a French classical cellist. He plays on a 1710 cello by Matteo Goffriller.
Régis Pasquier is a French violinist from a family of musicians. His father Pierre Pasquier (1902–1986), a violist and his uncles Jean (1903), a violinist, and Étienne (1905–1997), a cellist, had founded a string trio, le Trio Pasquier. His brother Bruno Pasquier is a violist.
Véronique Roux is a French classical pianist.
Alfred Loewenguth was a 20th-century French classical violinist.
Frank Braley is a French classical pianist.
Maria Belooussova was a Russian pianist. She lived and worked in Paris.
Sonia Wieder-Atherton is a Franco-American classical cellist.
Martine Bailly is a French classical cellist who held the position of supersoloist, principal first cello of the Orchestre de l'Opéra national de Paris for 26 years.
Sébastien Hurtaud is a French classical cellist.