Valérie Aimard
Valérie Aimard (born June 1969) is a French classical cellist. Life. Born in Lyon, Aimard studied with Michel Strauss and Philippe Muller at the Conservatoire de Paris. She obtained a first prize in cello and a first prize in chamber music, and followed the perfectionnement cycle. In 1992, she met Bernard Greenhouse, a student of Pablo Casals, a founding member of the Beaux Arts Trio, who became her master. She has won several international cello and chamber music competitions (including first prize in the Maria Canals International Music Competition in 1991). She has performed in some twenty countries  in recitals, chamber music and as a soloist, and has been invited to the United States for three consecutive summers at the Marlboro Music School and Festival. Her recordings have received several awards (Diapason d'Or, Choc du Monde de la Musique, ffff de Télérama), in particular the recording of works for cello and piano by Felix Mendelssohn in 1997. When it was published in early 1998, the "Diapason" magazine wrote: Aimard is a lecturer in Teacher Training at the 2nd cycle in the Pedagogy Department and teaches chamber music at the 1st, 2nd and 3rd cycles in the Classical and  Contemporary Instrumental Disciplines Department of the Conservatoire de Paris. She has performed with her brother, the pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard, at the Edinburgh Festival, Aldeburgh Festival, Piano Ruhr Festival, Festival de La Roque-d'Anthéron and in prestigious venues such as the Kioi Hall in Tokyo and the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris In addition to classical music concerts, Aimard gives mime shows alone on stage, "Bulles", where she "shares her passion for the art of pantomime".