A radiant, generous personality, Emmanuelle Bertrand is recognized as a key figure on the European cello scene.
Trained at the Conservatoires Nationaux Supérieurs de Musique et de Danse in Lyon and Paris in the classes of Jean Deplace and Philippe Muller, she is the winner of numerous international awards and competitions, including “Artist of the Year” in France by Diapason magazine and France Musique listeners (2011), and Diapason d’Or de l’année on three occasions for her recordings for Harmonia Mundi.
In 2017, the Académie des Beaux-Arts awarded her the prestigious Prix d’Interprétation Simone et Cino Del Duca.
She has received two Victoires de la Musique awards, “instrumental revelation” in 2002, and “instrumental soloist of the year” in 2022.
At the age of 25, she met composer Henri Dutilleux, who described her as a “true revelation”.
Since then, she has dedicated works by Nicolas Bacri, Édith Canat de Chizy, Pascal Amoyel, Bernard Cavanna, David Lampel, Thierry Escaich and Benoît Menut.
She also gave the world premiere of Luciano Berio’s Chanson pour Pierre Boulez .
It was also during this period that she formed a duo with pianist Pascal Amoyel, her partner both on stage and off, with whom she fervently defends both forgotten works and the great repertoire.
Fascinated by the links between music and words, she works closely with Laurent Terzieff on texts by Jean-Pierre Siméon.
In 2005, she co-wrote and performed Le Block 15 ou la Musique en résistancewith Pascal Amoyel, directed by Jean Piat.
In 2011, she created Le violoncelle de guerre, a tribute to Maurice Maréchal and the cello he made in the trenches in 1915.
She toured with this program until 2018, alternating with Didier Sandre, Christophe Malavoy, Francis Perrin, François Marthouret and Richard Bohringer.
In 2020, Robin Renucci entrusted her with the role of Agafia in Goncharov’s Oblomov (Tréteaux de France), giving her the opportunity to combine the roles of actress and musician.
She performs regularly as a soloist, notably with the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre Métropolitain du Grand Montréal, the Ukrainian National Orchestra, the Moscow State Symphony Orchestra, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, the Athens National Orchestra and the Busan Symphony Orchestra (Korea), Musica Vitae Orchestra of Sweden, Orchestre Symphonique de Québec, Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, RTV Symphony Orchestra of Slovenia, Wuhan Symphony Orchestra (China), Orchestres Nationaux de Lille, d’Ile de France, de Lorraine, Orchestres Philharmoniques de Strasbourg, de Monte Carlo…
She teaches chamber music and cello at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris.
She was the first woman to be appointed cello professor in the history of the institution, founded in 1795.