Biography

Sebastien Walnier is the principal cellist at La Monnaie Orchestra in Brussels (Belgium National Opera).

In combination with his orchestral work, he is passionate about a wide spectrum of chamber music, including classical, jazz and contemporary popular music.

About me

Sebastien Walnier is the principal cellist at La Monnaie Orchestra in Brussels (Belgium National Opera).


In combination with his orchestral work, he is passionate about a wide spectrum of chamber music, including classical, jazz and contemporary popular music.


Sebastien Walnier started playing the cello at a very early age with Laurent Chantraine. He won a first prize at the Conservatoire Royal de Liège (Belgium) at the age of 13, with Maryse Douin-Dubois, and obtained post- graduate diplomas in cello and in chamber music four years later. He taught chamber music at that same conservatory from 2001 till 2008. He also studied with Edmond Carlier, a disciple of André Navarra.


His meeting with cellist Roland Pidoux at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique


in Paris had a decisive influence on his career; he graduated there at the age of twenty.


Noteworthy chamber music collaborations include performances with Roland Pidoux, Jean-Claude Pennetier, Lorenzo Gatto, Daniel Blumenthal, Jean-Claude Vanden Eyden and Liviu Prunaru.


After having played for nearly a decade as a member of the Talweg Trio, he has continued a close collaborative partnership with its pianist,Alexander Gurning with whom he performs regularly.


In 2011, Sébastien created Ô-Celli.


Over the past decade, his cello octet has recorded four albums and has played concerts across Europe and Canada.


In 2014, he created the group Loco Motive Trio, with violinist Ning Kam and double-bass player Lisa De Boos, mixing folk and fiddle with jazz, and even funk music.

He also plays in a jazz trio with pianist Charles Loos and guitarist Jeanfrançois Prins.


In 2012, Sébastien Walnier was awarded "Musician of the Year" by the Belgian Musical Press Union.


He plays on a cello by Giovanni Grancino from 1699 on loan from a private collector. He is a cello Professor at the Conservatoire Royal of Liège, Belgium.



Main projects

  • Ô-Celli

    www.o-celli.com


    Ô-Celli c’est une aventure humaine initiée par Sébastien Walnier et Alexandre Beauvoir, qui ont réuni autour d’eux des violoncellistes solistes d’orchestres ou chambristes, qui partagent la même passion pour leur instrument. 



    La vibration unique de cet instrument multiplié par huit donne une dimension de cathédrale sonore aux œuvres arrangées et revisitées par les musiciens. Cet ensemble aime aussi susciter la création d’oeuvres originales. Ô-Celli regroupe certes des musiciens de formation classique, mais surtout des musiciens à l’image de leur époque, ouverts sur le monde et sa diversité. 

  • Loco Motive Trio

    www.locomotivetrio.com


    Loco Motive Trio was formed in 2015 by collaborative musicians and good friends, Ning Kam, Sébastien Walnier and Lisa De Boos. Through their performing together in classical music settings, these three locos realized that their musical interests ventured far beyond traditional classical music. Even with their own individual busy careers as accomplished musicians, they had to face the inevitable and so, a trio of adventurous proportions was born.