Laurent Quenelle

Biography

Born in 1970, Laurent Quenelle made his first acquaintance with the violin when he was three. He studied in France at the conservatoires of Rosny and of St Maur. At the age of 16 he travelled to the USA to work with Maestro Denes Zsigismondy at Washington University in Seattle.  On his return he joined Pierre Doukan’s class at the Paris Conservatoire (1st prize for violin and for chamber music). After postgraduate studies, he decided in 1991 to complete his studies with David Takeno at the Guildhall School of Music.  Based in London, Laurent Quenelle became a permanent member of the London Symphony Orchestra in 1996 and is regularly invited as a concermaster with Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique (John Elliot Gardiner) the London Sinfonietta, the Scottish Ensemble, as well as the Orchestre d’Auvergne and the Orchestre Royal de Flandres.

Passionate about chamber music, Laurent has performed with the oboist François Leleux, the violinist Gordan Nikolic, and the double-bassist Edgar Meyer. He has  recorded chamber music by Stravinsky with the pianist Vladimir Ashkenazy (Decca label).  He has also played with the Nash Ensemble, Oxalys, and was a member of the Mullova Ensemble formed by the violinist Viktoria Mullova.  In recital Laurent Quenelle is frequently accompanied by the pianist Tom Blach and he has performed as a soloist with the Seattle Philharmonic Orchestra and the London Chamber Orchestra.

Laurent has been a prize winner in the Seattle Young Artist Competition, in the Mayor of London Prize and has won awards from the Cziffra and Sakakawa foundations. In 1995 he founded the European Camerata which he directs from the violin.