First prize winner of the Queen Elisabeth Competition in 2017 (the first year dedicated to the cello), Victor Julien-Laferrière has been described as “one of the most assured talents of the young generation of French cellists” by Diapason magazine. He also won first prize and two special prizes at the Prague Spring International Competition in 2012, and in 2018 received the Victoire de la Musique award in France as Instrumental Soloist of the Year.
In parallel with his prolific solo career, which has seen him perform with orchestras of the stature of the BBC Philharmonic, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw and the Orchestre National de France, Victor Julien-Laferrière is also developing an important activity as a conductor. He conducts the Wiener Kammerorchester, the Orchestre National d’Ile de France and the Orchestre de l’Opéra de Rouen on tour, as well as the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris. In 2021, he founded his own ensemble, the Orchestre Consuelo, which has developed an intense activity in France and abroad.
His latest recordings for Alpha Classics include the album of two Dutilleux / Dusapin concertos, recorded with the Orchestre National de France between 2021 and 2022 (Diapason D’Or 2023). At the end of 2023, he recorded Schumann’s complete piano trios with brothers Théo and Pierre Fouchenneret on the French B-Records label. At the head of the Orchestre Consuelo, he will publish Brahms – Serenades for the Mirare label in 2023, and continue a four-year project to record the complete Beethoven symphonies live for the B.Records label (first release 2024).
Victor Julien-Laferrière plays on a cello by Domenico Montagnana and with a bow by Dominique Peccatte.
First prize winner of the Queen Elisabeth Competition in 2017 (the first year dedicated to the cello), Victor Julien-Laferrière has been described as “one of the most assured talents of the young generation of French cellists” by Diapason magazine. He also won first prize and two special prizes at the Prague Spring International Competition in 2012, and in 2018 received the Victoire de la Musique award in France as Instrumental Soloist of the Year.
The 2023/24 season will see him perform with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and Simone Lamsma under Domingo Hindoyan, as well as with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France with Mikko Franck, the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Orchestre National de Belgique, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Stuttgart Staadtheater Orchestra, Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra and Orchestre d’Auvergne with Thomas Zehetmair. He will perform in recital and chamber music at the Schubertiade in Hohenem, the Philharmonie de Paris and the Musée de Louisiane. In addition, he founded his own ensemble, Consuelo, which collaborates extensively with a number of leading French festivals. He will conduct Consuelo at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, as well as in other festivals and concert halls in France.
Further afield, Victor Julien-Laferrière has performed with renowned orchestras worldwide, including the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, hr-Sinfonieorchester, Orchestre de Paris, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Orchestre National de France, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, Orchestre National de Lyon, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Bruxelles, Orchestre National de Belgique, Orchestre Symphonique d’Anvers, Orchestre de Chambre Paris, Les Siècles, Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie, and with such prestigious conductors as Valery Gergiev, Kristiina Poska, Emmanuel Krivine, Tugan Sokhiev, Elim Chan, Maxim Emelyanychev, François-Xavier Roth, Jun Märkl, Philippe Herreweghe, Nathalie Stutzmann, Stéphane Denève, Joshua Weilerstein, Eivind Gullberg Jensen, Gergely Madaras and Ben Glassberg.
His recital and chamber music projects have taken him to prestigious venues and festivals such as the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Konzerthaus in Vienna, the KKL in Lucerne, BOZAR in Brussels, the Chapelle Musicale Reine Elisabeth, the Tonhalle in Zurich, the Philharmonie de Paris, the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Fondation Louis Vuitton, Essen Philharmonic, Phillips Collection in Washington, Prague Spring International Music Festival, Klavier-Festival Ruhr, Rheingau Musik Festival, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Sommets Musicaux de Gstaad, Brussels Cello Festival, Copenhagen Summer Festival, Folles Journées in Nantes and Tokyo.
Victor Julien-Laferrière is also developing an important activity as a conductor. He has conducted the Orchestre National d’Île-de-France and the Orchestre de l’Opéra de Rouen on tour, as well as the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris and its Consuelo ensemble.
He has also recorded numerous albums. In January 2019, Victor Julien-Laferrière recorded an album devoted to Schubert, in collaboration with Les Esprits trio (Sony Music), which received top marks from French magazine Télérama. His latest recordings for Alpha Classics include a critically acclaimed album devoted to Shostakovich, Rachmaninov and Denisov with pianist Jonas Vitaud (2019), a recording of concertos by Dvořák and Martinů with the Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège conducted by Gergely Madaras (2021), and more recently the Diapason d’Or-winning cello concertos by Dutilleux and Dusapin with the Orchestre National de France conducted by Kristiina Poska and David Robertson.
Victor Julien-Laferrière studied with René Benedetti, then successively with Roland Pidoux at the CNSM in Paris, Heinrich Schiff at the University of Vienna and Clemens Hagen at the Mozarteum in Salzburg. He also participated in the Seiji Ozawa International Music Academy Switzerland from 2005 to 2011. He plays on a cello by Domenico Montagnana and with a bow by Dominique Peccatte.
