ARTICLE: Eclectic piano-cello duo primed for their San Diego debut on Friday

Beth Wood
San Diego Union-Tribune

October 25, 2026

Acclaimed French-Canadian cellist Jean-Guihen Queyras has worked with an array of talented musicians, recorded more than 50 albums and is a sought-after solo artist.

But playing with equally acclaimed French pianist Alexandre Tharaud, as he will Friday at the Baker-Baum Concert Hall in La Jolla, is a singular experience.

Queyras and Tharaud are celebrating three decades of musical partnership with an international tour and their new album, “30 Years as a Duo,” released in April.

Having the same booking agent when they were in their 20s in Paris blossomed into a long-lasting collaboration.

“We became brothers really quickly,” said Queyras. “I literally feel when I’m on stage with Alexandre that I can do whatever I want. That’s a wonderful premise for live music because you want to be totally free to invent in the moment.

“Both Alexandre and I can do that because we know that the other one is immediately going to understand what we are doing.”

That understanding infuses their programs as well.

Many of the pieces the duo performs were written for other instruments, but they have transcribed them for piano and cello. The usual duo concert will feature one or both musicians performing solo to break up the program. But Queyras and Tharaud play together throughout each of their joint concerts.

Queyras recently spoke to the U-T on the phone from Luxembourg after a concert. Even at midnight his time, he was articulate and eager to talk about his remarkably varied repertoire, his 2024 trip to Ukraine, his longtime friendship with Tharaud and being a member of France’s pioneering Ensemble Intercontemporain.

 ‘Struck by lightning’

Born in Montreal, Queyras was raised mostly in France by a music-loving family. He is artistic director of the annual chamber-music festival in Forcalquier, where he grew up.

Once he discovered the cello, there was no hesitation about pursuing it as a career.

“I was nine years old, so not too young,” Queyras, 59, recalled.

“But we went to a concert where my brother was playing the violin. There was a cellist playing the Saint-Saëns concerto, and I was struck by lightning. I fell in love with the instrument, so that’s when I started cello.”

Before graduating from the Conservatoire Supérieur de Musique in Lyon, France, Queyras studied in New York and Germany. He is now a faculty member of the University of Music in Freiberg, Germany, where he was once a student.

When he was 23, Queyras became a member of Ensemble Intercontemporain (Ensemble Contemporary), which is made up entirely of soloists. It was created by the late avant-garde composer Pierre Boulez to present exceptionally performed contemporary music.

“Pierre was a perfectionist and very demanding with us, and this was wonderful,” Queyras said. “And because it was – at that time, at least – the most prestigious music ensemble, all the composers who were being played there would collaborate with us.

“So, for 10 years, I worked on an everyday basis with living composers telling us what he or she would need. That was an excellent upbringing, because learning so much from leading composers helped me figure out what composers of the past would need from me as a performer.”

For Friday’s La Jolla concert, Queyras and Tharaud will be channeling such performers from the past as Brahms, Debussy, Britten and Fauré, as well as a piece by Marin Marais from the 1700s.

‘A bit of solace’

In 2024, Queyras went to Kyiv, after asking Ukrainian friends who live in Europe if his traveling there to perform would be all right. The response was that Ukraine would welcome him.

His visit included playing at Kyiv Philharmonie in the capital, at a rehabilitation center for wounded soldiers and at a clinic for children.

“It gives an incredible sense of purpose when you see that your music indeed can be soothing, can bring a bit of solace, to people who have lost loved ones,” he said. “It was absolutely unforgettable.”

In 2025, Queyras was preparing for a U.S. solo tour at about the time Ukrainian President Zelenskyy endured famously disrespectful treatment in the White House. In a strongly worded statement, Queyras announced that all proceeds of his 2025 American tour would go to Ukrainian organizations.

While his statement was public, Queyras did not speak about it in any of his concerts.

“I have the right to express things that important to me, as a citizen,” he said. “As soon as you make statements, like I did on that topic, a lot of people approve. But inevitably you also get the ‘Who do think you are?’ and ‘Don’t mix politics and music’ responses.

“Some people asked me why I am touring the U.S. now. I have many American friends, and I know they struggle with what’s happening nowadays. I want to share the music with everybody who is happy to hear it.”

That includes the audience at Baker-Baum Concert Hall Friday night, where Queyras and Tharaud will make their San Diego debut.

The first half of the program will start with Poulenc’s Suite Française, followed by the Brahms Cello Sonata in E Minor. The second half is what Queyras calls a potpourri of different works to celebrate the duo’s 30th anniversary.

“We want to take the audience on a journey through some pieces that have been important in our life as a duo,” he explained. “These pieces, even though they were written at different places and at different times, fit so well in the sound universe that they propose.”

During the concert, the musicians will share how their life as a duo has been. According to Queyras, it has been friction-free.

“People say to us: ‘If you guys feel like brothers, then that means you fight,” he said. “But, actually, we don’t. We really don’t.”