« Henri Demarquette is a multi-faceted personality whose passionate playing has the power of a blazing forest; every stroke of his bow provokes a response as he stirs the musical subconscious» O.Bellamy Le Monde de la Musique
Henri Demarquette was born in 1970 and entered the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in Paris at the age of 13, where he studied under Philippe Muller and Maurice Gendron. He was awarded first prize by unanimous decision of the jury and studied with Pierre Fournier and Paul Tortelier, as well as Janos Starker at Bloomington in the United States.
Henri Demarquette began to perform from the age of 14. At 17 he made his début recital at the Théâtre du Châtelet and his performance with Hélène Grimaud was recorded by France 3. He was immediately spotted by Yehudi Menuhin who invited him to play the Dvorak Cello Concerto in Prague and Paris at performances conducted by Menuhin himself.
He embarked on an international career and has performed in capital cities with leading French and foreign orchestras including the Orchestre National de France, the London Philharmonic, the Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre National de Bordeaux-Aquitaine, the Symphonia Varsovia, the Neue Philharmonie Westphalen and the Vienna Chamber Orchestra. He also frequently performs with pianists Brigitte Engerer and Michel Dalberto.
Henri Demarquette now records for Warner Classics and recently released “L'invitation au voyage” – a selection famous pieces by French composers with pianist Brigitte Engerer, and will be followed by the 3 Brahms sonatas with pianist Michel Dalberto
Henri Demarquette is particularly interested in contemporary music and actively promotes rare works. He works closely with leading contemporary composers and has instigated the composition of works by Olivier Greif («Durch Adams Fall» concerto), Pascal Zavaro (concerto), Eric Tanguy (Nocturne), Florentine Mulsant (sonata) and Alexandre Gasparov (Nocturne). His interpretation of Henri Dutilleux’s « Tout un monde lointain » concerto with the Mannheim Akademisches Orkester conducted by Frédéric Chaslin led to a film by France Europe Média with the financial support of SACEM.
His broad musical interests are reflected in his eclectic recordings which have won many awards in France and overseas, including:
-”Invitation au voyage” works by Fauré, Debussy, Ravel... with Brigitte Engerer (Warner Classics)
- the complete cycle of sonatas by L.v. Beethoven with Michel Dalberto in a DVD recording (Armide),
- the complete works of F. Chopin with Brigitte Engerer (Intrada),
- 6 Suites for cello solo by J.S.Bach (« Étoiles du Festival d’Auvers sur Oise » collection),
-Two concertos by J. Haydn with the Toulouse chamber orchestra (Verany),
- Légende by Jean Cras with the Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestrae (Timpani),
-complete works for violoncello and piano by James Mac Millan with the pianist Graham Scott (Deux-elles)
- 3 cello sonatas by J.Brahms with Michel Dalberto (Warner Classics)
Henri Demarquette was awarded the Fondation Simone et Cino del Duca prize by the académie des Beaux Arts
He plays on a Goffredo Cappa cello dated 1697 and a Persois bow dated 1820.