ABBA

Cellist from Grasse, France, who started his studies at five years of age and attended the Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique de Paris, from whence he graduated in 1997 with the Premier Prix de Violoncelle. He furthered his education at Boston University, where he earned a Master’s degree in music. His instructors included Andres Diaz, Jean-Marie Gamard, George Neikrug, and David Soyer.

On 16^th November 2001, he and Laurent Chatel and Melissa Reardon performed on of Ludwig van Beethoven’s string trios as part of Harvey Lodish’s 60^th Birthday Symposium at M.I.T.

He gave one of the first—if not the first—performances of Mauricio Pauly-Maduro’s “Entonces descendio a su memoria, que le parecio interminable” in April 2003.

On 10^th October 2003, the Tancrede Trio—which he co-founded and was rounded out by the aforementioned violinist Laurent Chatel and pianist Toma Popovici—opened the Cohen Chamber Music Concert Series season in Sargent Gymnasium at Hebron Academy.

He appeared on Chayanne’s Mi Tiempo and fulfilled principal cellist duties with the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra in a production of Giuseppe Verdi’s Don Carlos, under the baton of James Levine, in 2007.

On 18^th March 2007, he and clarinetist Arthur Lukomyansky, pianist Toma Popovici and violist Michael Zaretsky interpreted works of Beethoven, Johannes Brahms and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart at Temple Emanuel in Newton, Massachusetts.

He and Artur and Toma and violinist Sarita Kwok participated in the Rockport Chamber Music Festival on 14^th June 2007. Their program comprised Olivier Messiaen’s “Quartet for the End of Time” and Maurice Ravel’s “Duo for Violin and Cello”.

On 7^th October 2007, he and pianist Rob Prester appeared at Newton Free Library, where they played Beethoven’s “Sonata for Cello and Piano in G minor, Op. 5, No. 2” and Cesar Franck’s “Sonata for Cello and Piano in A”.

He became a member of the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 2008.

In 2009, he appeared on Chris Botti’s Live in Boston and the CD+DVD package, Chris Botti in Boston.

On 24^th July 2009, he and clarinetist William R. Hudgins, pianist Orli Shaham and violist Michael Zaretsky offered up the BSO’s prelude concert, which consisted of “Duo in E flat for Viola and Cello” by Beethoven and “Eight Pieces for Clarinet, Viola and Piano” by Max Bruch.

He and fellow BSO cellists Blaise Dejardin, Adam Esbensen and Mihail Jojatu co-founded the Boston Cello Quartet in January 2010.

On 28th March 2010, another group with which he is active, the Alianza String Quartet, took the stage at the Sanford Calderwood Pavilion where they showcased the music of Beethoven, Mozart, and Hugo Wolf.

The Boston Cello Quartet made their Tanglewood debut in July 2010, to rave reviews.

On 9^th August 2010, they appeared at the Ventfort Hall Mansion and Gilded Age Museum, where they did their own takes on “Adagio” by Tomaso Albinoni and Remo Giazotto, “Konzertwalzer, Op. 31” by Wilhelm Fitzenhagen, the overture from The Marriage of Figaro and “Sonata in D major, K. 381” by Mozart, “La muerte del angel” by Astor Piazzolla, and “Marche Militaire” by Franz Schubert.

Alexandre again participated in the BSO’s prelude concert on 27^th August 2010, which included Beethoven’s “Septet in E flat for Winds and Strings, Op. 20” and John Harbison’s “Deep Dances”. The main event, which also featured the talents of soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, paired Francis Poulenc’s Gloria with Gustav Holst’s The Planets.

On 22^nd November 2010, the BCQ reprised their Ventfort recital in Edward M. Pickman Concert Hall at the Longy School of Music, with two notable additions: Blaise Dejardin’s “Variations on a New World” and Gioachino Rossini’s overture from The Barber of Seville.

Alexandre was in the cello section for the Concert for the Cure in Jordan Hall at the New England Conservatory of Music on 5^th December 2010. The concert, which was the brainchild of flautist Julie Scolnik, raised funds for breast cancer research. Sir Simon Rattle conducted Brahms’ “Symphony No. 2”, Gustav Mahler’s adagietto from “Symphony No. 5” and Mozart’s “Piano Concerto in G, K. 453”, with Marc-Andre Hamelin at the keys.

On 8^th February 2011, the Alianza String Quartet presented a program at the Flagler Museum that included “Italian Serenade” by Wolf, “Langsamer Satz” by Anton Webern, “String Quartet in E flat, Op. 33, No. 2” by Franz Joseph Haydn, and “String Quartet in F” by Ravel. Alexandre was pivotal in the encore, which featured the slow movement of Mozart’s “String Quartet No. 21 in D, K. 575”.

He gave a master class on 28^th April 2011 at the Boston University College of Fine Arts, where he teaches.

On 29^th July 2011, the BCQ made a triumphal return to Ozawa Hall, this time with a new program that comprised “Sheep May Safely Graze” and “Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565” by Johann Sebastian Bach, “Clair de Lune” by Claude Debussy, “Wolfgang Variations” by Dejardin, “Humoreska in G, Op. 101, No. 7” by Antonin Dvorak, “The Waltz of the Black Ants” by Tetsuro Hoshii, selections from Pictures at an Exhibition by Modest Mussorgsky, “Fratres” by Arvo Part, “The Flight of the Bumblebee” by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov, and “Iber-Amer, 3 Dances from Latin America” by Patrice Sciortino.

They were the opening act for Train at the Koussevitzky Music Shed in August 2011, where they played some of their own arrangements of songs by the Grammy-winning pop-rock group.

Alexandre was one of several musicians to appear at West Parish Church in Andover on 25^th September 2011, when they played the soundtrack, as it were, from Vikram Seth’s novel, An Equal Music. The music, which plays a key role in his book, included “Liebeslied” by Fritz Kreisler, “Quintet for Strings and Piano” (“The Trout”) by Schubert, “String Quintet, Op. 29” by Beethoven, and “Two Pieces for Cello and Piano” by Webern.

On 16^th October 2011, he and Sarita reunited for a duo concert as part of the Hammond Performing Arts Series at Brimmer and May School in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts.

Gamers may have heard Alexandre and the BCQ without even knowing it: They appear on Olivier Deriviere’s soundtrack from Of Orcs and Men.

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