Marie Hallynck

An accomplished soloist, chamber musician, and passionate pedagogue, Marie Hallynck is now recognized as one of the leading cellists of her generation. Her career has taken her to some of the world’s most prestigious concert halls, including the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Musikverein in Vienna, Wigmore Hall in London, Symphony Hall in Birmingham, the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, the Théâtre de la Ville and the Cité de la Musique in Paris, as well as the Philharmonie in Cologne and Berlin, among others. She regularly appears as a soloist with the St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestre National de Belgique, the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, the Chamber Orchestra of the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Orchestre National de Lille, and the Hong Kong Chinese Philharmonic Orchestra. She has also performed alongside pianists Cédric Tiberghien, Jean-Claude Vanden Eynden, and Muhiddin Dürrüoglu. In 2006, together with Muhiddin Dürrüoglu and clarinetist Ronald Van Spaendonck, she founded the ensemble Kheops. This flexible ensemble brings together around ten musicians, including Sophie Hallynck, Lise Berthaud, Ning Kam, Laurent Lefèvre, and Gaby Van Riet, around a repertoire ranging from classical to contemporary music.

During her years of study with Reine Flachot in Paris, Edmond Baert at the Conservatoire Royal de Musique de Bruxelles and the Chapelle Musicale Reine Elisabeth, Janos Starker in the United States, and Natalia Gutman at the Musikhochschule in Stuttgart, Marie Hallynck distinguished herself in numerous competitions and received several awards. These include a prize at the Eurovision Competition for Young Musicians and at the Tromp Competition in Eindhoven in 1992, honorary diplomas from the Mozarteum in Salzburg and the Accademia Chigiana in Siena, and the award of the Belgian Fondation de la Vocation in 1993. She is also a laureate of the Juventus Association and the Emile Bernheim Foundation in 1996. In 2001, she was named a Rising Star by the Association of European Concert Halls and, the following year, Soloist of the Year by the Union of the Belgian Music Press.

Her numerous recordings, released by Harmonia Mundi, Fuga Libera, Cyprès, Alpha, Naxos, Ricercar, Musique en Wallonie, and Warner Classics, have earned the highest distinctions from the specialized press. Her most recent recording, released in November 2016, is dedicated to the concerto by Dirk Brossé, which she performs as soloist with the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by the composer himself. Alongside her concert activities, Marie Hallynck has been teaching at the Conservatoire Royal de Bruxelles since the age of 19. She is also regularly invited to serve on the juries of major international competitions, including the ARD Competition in Munich and the Concours Reine Elisabeth in 2017. She plays a 1717 cello by the Venetian luthier Matteo Goffriller.