ALEXIS DESCHARMES – Guest Cellist, Cellist, National Gallery of Art New Music Ensemble

Chosen in 2008 by Diapason magazine to represent France as a cellist – along with about ten colleagues from his generation on other instruments – Alexis Descharmes is now an active international ambassador for his instrument and its repertoire. Born in 1977, and trained at the Paris Conservatoire (in the classes of Michel Strauss and Philippe Muller), Descharmes was the winner of the Valentino Bucchi (1997) and Avant-Scènes (1999) competitions. He was then supported in succession by various foundations, and has worked with the Ensemble Intercontemporain, Ensemble Alternance, and Ensemble Court-circuit. Dedicatee of some fifty contemporary works, concertante and solo alike, Descharmes’s discography consists of some twenty recordings, in solo or with the aforementioned ensembles. He joined the Orchestra of the Paris National Opera in 2006, and, since 2004, he collaborates regularly with French Embassy in Washington, DC for the Contemporary Music Series of La Maison Française. He became a founding member of the NGA New Music Ensemble in 2010.