BIOGRAPHY
After studying at the Paris Conservatoire, Jérôme Pernoo received numerous accolades in major international competitions: Prizewinner at the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, 3rd Prize at the Rostropovich Competition in Paris (1994), and 1st Prize at the Pretoria Competition (1996).
Jérôme Pernoo has performed with most major French symphony orchestras and collaborated with Les Musiciens du Louvre – Grenoble and Marc Minkowski, as well as with Ensemble Matheus and Jean-Christophe Spinosi. With the latter, he made his debut at the Salzburg Festival in 2010 and at Carnegie Hall in New York. Abroad, he has played with orchestras such as the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, the Vienna Symphony, the Bayerische Staatsoper Orchestra in Munich, the Zurich Opera Orchestra, the Spanish National Orchestra, and the Swedish Radio Orchestra.
In recital, alongside pianist Jérôme Ducros, he has appeared at some of the world’s most prestigious venues: Wigmore Hall in London, the Philharmonie de Paris, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées and Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris. His chamber music partners have included Alina Ibragimova, Renaud Capuçon, Gérard Caussé, Antoine Tamestit, Henri Demarquette, Christophe Coin, Frank Braley, Nicholas Angelich, Eric Le Sage, Thomas Enhco, Emmanuel Pahud, Paul Meyer, and the Ebène, Modigliani and Chiaroscuro Quartets.
He is the dedicatee of works by composers such as Guillaume Connesson, Jérôme Ducros, Jérémie Rhorer, and Fabien Waksman. In 2008, he gave the world premiere of Guillaume Connesson’s cello concerto.
A co-founder of the Deauville Easter Festival, he later launched the festival Les Vacances de Monsieur Haydn in La Roche-Posay, whose first edition was held in 2005.
He recorded Offenbach’s Grand Concerto with Marc Minkowski for Deutsche Grammophon, and Connesson’s concerto with Jean-Christophe Spinosi. With Jérôme Ducros, he released the sonatas of Rachmaninov and Bridge, as well as Beethoven’s Kreutzer Sonata. His recording for Sony Classical is entirely devoted to the chamber music of Guillaume Connesson.
In 2015, he founded the Centre de Musique de Chambre de Paris, for which he serves as artistic director, creating and staging numerous musical performances that spotlight a new generation of young artists.
During the 2024–2025 season, he created a new stage production (Eusebius and Florestan) around Schumann’s Piano Quartet.
A filmed concert of the complete Bach Suites is set to be released in autumn 2025.
Jérôme Pernoo has taught at the Royal College of Music in London, the Paris Conservatoire (CNSMDP), and the Musica Mundi School of Music in Belgium. He is regularly invited to give masterclasses in France and abroad (Kronberg Academy, European Chamber Music Academy, Villecroze, Académie Ravel) and to serve on the jury of the most prestigious international cello competitions (Feuermann Competition in Berlin, Isang Yun Competition in South Korea, Enescu Competition in Bucharest).
In September 2022, he founded his own school – the Pernoo School of Musical Performance – to train young soloists from around the world for international competitions.
He plays a cello made for him by Franck Ravatin, as well as an anonymous 18th-century piccolo cello from the Milanese school.
Jérôme Pernoo wishes to pay tribute here to his first teachers: the devoted Germaine Fleury, Klaus Heitz, Xavier Gagnepain, and Philippe Muller at the Paris Conservatoire.