Emmanuel Tondus

Emmanuel Tondus began studying the cello at the age of 9 with Léon Massart. In 1999, he enrolled at the Royal Conservatory of Mons and studied under Jean-Pol Zanutel, Luc Dewez and David Cohen. Emmanuel Tondus also studied early music with Hervé Douchy and Guy Van Waas. He perfected his chamber music skills at the École Normale Alfred Cortot in Paris in Nina Patarcec's class and benefited from the advice of Didier Poskin (Brussels), Oleg Kogan (London) and Hélène Dautry (Paris).In 2002, he was invited to participate as principal cellist in the European Baroque Academy under the direction of Rinaldo Alessandrini.

Emmanuel Tondus has worked with the Royal Chamber Orchestra of Wallonia, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of Liège, the Belgian National Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra (London), and others. He has been a member of the Brussels Philharmonic since 2012.

Emmanuel Tondus performs regularly with various chamber music ensembles (Ô-Celli, Quatuor Alfama, Ensemble Astérope, s’Embra, etc.) as well as a soloist with the Royal Symphony Orchestra of Val de Sambre, the Ensemble Passage and the Grumiaux Foundation Orchestra. Emmanuel Tondus has been invited to perform at the « Festival de l’Eté Mosan », the « Nocturnes de Beloeil », the Festival d’Enghien, the "Les Sons Intensifs" festival (Lessines), the "Les Inattendues" festival (Tournai), the "Printemps Musical" de Silly, and others.

He has recorded two albums with pianist Damien Bossy: the first featuring works by L.V. Beethoven, J. Brahms and D. Shostakovich, and the second, ‘Tales’, on the Antarctica Records label, featuring works by G. Connesson, L. Janacek and S. Rachmaninov. Emmanuel Tondus has also recorded an album entitled ‘Night Birds’ with accordionist Bram Van Weverberg on the same label.

Since 2023, Emmanuel Tondus has been performing in the show ‘Le Carnaval des Animaux’, directed by Luc Petit, with the HOP collective, which has been produced in Liège (Salle Philharmonique), Brussels (Cirque Royal), Charleroi (PBA) and Tournai.

Since 2012, he has been invited each year as a cello teacher at the International Music Academy in Dinant. He is also invited to give masterclasses at MusicA in Braine-l'Alleud and at the Talent Music Summer Festival in Brescia (Italy). Since 2024, Emmanuel Tondus has been engaged as a lecturer in Reading/Transposition at the Conservatoire royal de Liège.

Emmanuel Tondus plays a cello by Alexandre Breton (copy of Carlo Ruger detto il Per Cremona 1707, 2007) and a bow by Victor Bernard. For the baroque cello, he plays a cello by Catherine Janssens (Brussels 2018) and a bow by Jérôme Gastaldo.