“An artist of profound originality, (…) a voice both powerful and gentle.”

— La Libre

Belgian cellist Pierre Fontenelle pursues an international career as a soloist and chamber musician. A top prizewinner in several international competitions (Breughel, Buchet, Baert), he served as cello-soloist of the Opéra Royal de Wallonie-Liège from 2019 to 2022 before focusing on an independent career.

He has since performed as a soloist in prestigious venues including Flagey, the Luxembourg Philharmonic, La Seine Musicale, the Taipei National Concert Hall, and the Shanghai Oriental Art Center, and has appeared with renowned orchestras and ensembles such as the Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège, Brussels Philharmonic, Musiques Nouvelles, and Casco Phil.

His adventurous repertoire extends well beyond the traditional concertos (Haydn, Schumann, Dvořák, Elgar) to include works off the beaten path by composers such as Friedrich Gulda, Sofia Gubaidulina, Pēteris Vasks, and Apolline Jesupret. In 2024, he received the FUGA Trophy from the Belgian Composers Union in recognition of his commitment to Belgian music.

His artistic approach comes into full focus in his debut album, ROOTS (Cypres, 2025), devoted to contemporary American music, featuring works by Reena Esmail, Andrea Casarrubios, and Caroline Shaw. With Duo Kiasma, alongside accordionist Frin Wolter, he explores baroque repertoires and more popular formats, releasing together POLARIS (Cypres, 2026), dedicated to the music of Rameau, Bach, and Vivaldi.

An active chamber musician, he has collaborated with artists including Ian Bostridge, Jean-Guihen Queyras, Jean-Claude Vanden Eynden, Gwendoline Blondeel, and Gaëlle Solal, and works regularly with the ensemble Oxalys, with whom he recorded works by John Adams and Aaron Copland in 2024.

Self-taught during his childhood in Seattle, Pierre Fontenelle later trained in Luxembourg, Namur, Mons, and Paris under the guidance of Éric Chardon, Han Bin Yoon, Jérôme Pernoo, and Anne Gastinel. Now a professor at IMEP (Namur), he performs on an 1860 Nicolas-François Vuillaume cello, made available by the King Baudouin Foundation through the Léon Courtin–Marcel Bouché Fund and the Strings For Talent Foundation, as well as a 1690 Ruggieri cello.

Named Namurois of the Year in 2020, Pierre Fontenelle places musical practice firmly within the life of his city. He regularly leads charity concerts in Namur and collaborates with the Festivals de Wallonie to bring music into retirement homes, hospitals, and prisons. In 2021, he founded the Concerts des Dames at the Abbaye Notre-Dame du Vivier, dedicated to highlighting young Belgian chamber musicians.