Romain Dhainaut

Belgian cellist, Romain Dhainaut trained successively at the Conservatoire de Tournai, the Chapelle Musicale Reine Elisabeth (Young Talents program), the Conservatoire Royal de Bruxelles, the Koninklijk Conservatorium Den Haag, and the Royal Academy of Music. His principal teachers were Christiane Diricq, Didier Poskin, Harro Ruijsenaars, and Mats Lidström. He also participated in masterclasses with Edmond Baert, Truls Mork, Frans Helmerson, Steven Doane, Colin Carr, Peter Bruns, and others. The teaching of Thomas Brandis particularly influenced him in the field of chamber music. He has performed as a soloist with musical personalities as diverse as Maxim Vengerov and Trevor Pinnock, and has given recitals throughout most European countries, as well as in China and the United States. Festivals in which he has participated include the BBC Proms, the 'Alfredo Piatti' Festival in Bergamo, Den Haagse Muziek Drie Daagse, the Norwich and Norfolk Festival, and New Dots London. An accomplished chamber musician, he was a Leverhulme Chamber Music Fellow at the Royal Academy of Music with the Leporello Quartet. He regularly performs in Belgium and abroad as part of the Trio Khnopff. His interest in contemporary music has led him to participate in premieres in England (Ensemble Matisse), the Netherlands, France, and other countries. Invited to Accra to collaborate in a workshop with Dutch composer Martijn Padding, he premiered ten solo cello pieces by young Ghanaian artists.

Concerned with the need to reach new audiences for so-called 'classical' music, he founded the Festival Contrastes in Tournai, where he organized a variety of events, including staged “surprise” concerts, film-concerts, and concerts for babies. He shares the artistic direction of the festival with Simon Diricq and Clément Holvoet. On recordings, he has notably recorded the chamber version of Mahler’s Fourth Symphony (Royal Academy Soloists Ensemble, conducted by Trevor Pinnock) and Weinberg’s Keyboard Trio (Trio Khnopff). He has also performed live on BBC Radio 3 as part of the BBC Proms.

Very active in pedagogy, he is assistant in the cello and chamber music classes at the Conservatoire Royal de Bruxelles, and teaches cello at the Conservatoire de Tournai and at the music academies of Mouscron and Péruwelz. Romain Dhainaut is a laureate of the Fondation de la Vocation, the Servais Competition, and first prize winner of the Dexia Classics Competition. He plays on a cello made in Ghent by Hendrik Willems in 1682, magnificently restored by the Maison Bernard in Brussels.