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Camille Thomas

About this Artist

The first cellist signed by Deutsche Grammophon in over forty years, Camille Thomas blends a brilliant command of her instrument with a rare musicality to offer truly memorable concerto and recital appearances. Her first DG recording Saint-Saens, Offenbach vividly illustrates the reasons for DG's historic signing, as well as delighting her growing number of enthusiastic fans the world over. Camille's special talent was recognized at the European Broadcasting Union Competition, where she was awarded the 1st prize and named “New Talent of the Year 2014”.

Whether she is playing Saint-Saens, Dvorak, Lalo, Haydn, Schumann, some neglected works that she champions, or the new concerto Fazil Say wrote for her, Never Give Up, which she premiered in Paris, you can be sure of a passionate and compelling performance. Her fascinating recital programs offer traditional repertoire, themes, and collaborations with composer/pianists - all conceived to stimulate the audience as well as the artist. Camille has won numerous prizes at national and international competitions, including the Seventh Antonio Janigro International Competition in Croatia, the Yamaha Music Foundation of Europe Strings Competition, the Edmont Baert Competition, the Léopold Bellan Competition, and was chosen for Forbes’ prestigious “30 under 30” list.

Recent and upcoming appearances include concertos with Paavo Jarvi in Bremen, at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome, with the Lucerne Festival Strings in Munich, and at the fantastic Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg. She is a favorite with orchestras throughout Europe, which is bound to be the case in North America as well very soon.

Camille studied in Frans Helmerson’s and Wolfgang-Emmanuel Schmidt's class at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler in Berlin, after working with Marcel Bardon and Philippe Muller in Paris and Stephan Forck in Berlin.

She plays an instrument by Ferdinand Gagliano (Napoli, 1788), the "Château Pape-Clément", on a generous loan from Bernard Magrez and a bow by Eugène Sartory kindly on extended loan from the Fondation Roi Baudoin - Fonds Bollandsee.