B i o g r a p h y
Léonard Frey-Maibach was born in Lyon (France), and started to play cello at the age of 8 years old with Fernando Rapetti, Soloist of the National Orchestra of Lyon, then Patrick Gabard in the Conservatory.
With 16 years old he joined the « Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris » with Roland Pidoux and Xavier Phillips, before moving to Germany in the « Leopold Mozart Zentrum Augsburg » alongside Professor Julius Berger. In parallel of his German studies, he takes part in the Academy of the Munich Philharmonic orchestra during two seasons, with Lorin Maazel and Zubin Mehta.
Recently, the cellist has been assigned 1st Principal cellist of the OSR - Orchestre de la Suisse Romande in Geneva, under the baton of Jonathan Nott.
Léonard Frey-Maibach is invited as 1st Principal Cellist in the Bayreuth Festival orchestra in Germany.
He started an international career in 2014 when he was promoted Solo cellist of the Gewandhaus Orchestra in Leipzig, and in 2015 appointed 1st Principal cellist under the direction of Riccardo Chailly. Since then, he is regularly invited as such at the DSO Berlin, Staatskapelle Dresden, Deutsche Oper Berlin, OSR Genève...
Léonard Frey-Maibach is teaching at the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra (GMJO), the Mendelssohn Orchestra Academy of the Gewandhaus orchestra and gives masterclasses in the Guildhall school in London, Shanghai university, Leopold Mozart Zentrum Augsburg, Tokyo school of music, among other conservatories.
From 2014 until 2018 he joined the famous Gewandhaus-Quartett and performed at some major international venues: In Asia "Hyogo Performing Arts Center" in Osaka, "Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall" - In Germany Gewandhaus of Leipzig - in South America at "Teatro Municipal de Santiago" in Chile - to name a few. 2017 marks a special event when the quartet performed the whole Beethoven cycle in Shanghai "Grand Theatre".
In 2016 Léonard Frey-Maibach created together with the acclaimed choreographer Juliette Rahon the interdisciplinary dance ensemble Juliette Rahon & Co, from which he is the co-artistic director. He is part of the creations "Nomade" in 2016, "When a cello meets a Dancer" in 2017, "Les Nomades" in 2018, "1001 Leben" in 2019, "La Dernière Sarabande ou l'obsolescence programmée" planned for 2020.
Léonard Frey-Maibach plays a cello from Nicolas Lupot year 1810, and modern bows from Bergeron father and son, in Lyon.