Alex Olmedo Duynslaeger, born in Barcelona in 2001, began studying cello with his mother Gaëtane Duynslaeger at the IEA Oriol Martorell.
At the age of 16, he was awarded a “Young Promise” scholarship by the Ferrer-Salat Music Foundation to study at the Conservatori Superior del Liceu in Barcelona under the direction of Lluís Claret, and also won two scholarships for excellence from the same foundation.
At the age of 20, in September 2021, he moved to Paris to continue his studies at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris with Jérôme Pernoo and later with Edgar Moreau. In October 2023, he started his master’s degree at the HMDK Stuttgart with Prof. Tristan Cornut.
Passionate about chamber music, he has been a member of the Cepheus Trio and the Atenea Quartet, performing in some of Spain’s most prestigious venues, including Atlàntida in Vic, Sala 4 of L’Auditori in Barcelona, and the Kursaal in Manresa. His performances have also taken him to renowned auditoriums and festivals across Europe, such as the Festival Pòdium in Matadepera, the Wissembourg Festival in France, and the Delta Chamber Music Festival, including a recital at Venice’s ‘Lo Squero’ auditorium through Le Dimore del Quartetto.
He has developed his artistry studying with the Cuarteto Casals, Itamar Golan, and Péter Nagy.
He has won first prize in several national and international competitions, such as the National Cello Competition “Jaime Dobato Benavente” (2017), the VIII String Competition of Barcelona, and the competition “Cello Prize 2018 – Edmond Baert Prize” in Brussels, also winning the Servais Prize, from the Servais Association, for the best interpretation of the imposed work.
He has also participated in masterclasses with cellists Jean-Guihen Queyras, Sebastian Klinger, Clemens Hagen, Peter Bruns, Danjulo Ishizaka. Furthermore he recently met Lorenza Borrani during an orchestra session led by the Italian violinist and Alex got very inspired by her way of music understanding and music making.
He has given concerts as a soloist with the Youth Orchestra of Andorra, the Orchestra of the Artistic Circle of Barcelona, the Chamber Orchestra of Sant Cugat, the Symphony Orchestra “Segle XXI” and the Italian Orchestra Bazzini Consort. He was academician of the Paris Chamber Orchestra during the season 22-23 and is a regular player of the Stuttgarter Kammerorchester. In December 2023, he recorded his first CD with pianist Fiona Mato containing works from Manuel Oltra, Lluís Benejam, Joaquin Nin and Gaspar Cassadó. This CD which has been recorded with the Spanish label IBS Classical, was made thanks to the Spanish College of Paris.
Alex Olmedo currently plays a cello made by Frank Ravatin and loaned by Strings For Talent, a fund under the aegis of the King Baudouin Foundation, with the support of the Toussaint Weil-Revil families.
Frank Ravatin graduated from the International Violinmaking School of Cremona in 1985, in the class of Maestro Giorgio Scolari. He was then put in charge of restoration and manufacture in the workshop of Jacques Camurat in Paris.
In 1991, he opened his workshop in Le Mans and devoted himself more and more to creation. In 1994, he won two gold medals for a viola and a cello at the international competition of the Violin Society of America (VSA) in San Francisco and a silver medal for the cello at the Strad international competition in Manchester. Two years later in Albuquerque, at the VSA International Competition, he won three gold medals in viola, cello and quartet, as well as a silver medal in violin, and won the gold medal in cello at the Strad Competition in Manchester.
In 1998, in Salt Lake City, again at the VSA, he won three gold medals in violin, cello and quartet and a silver medal in viola. He was named “hors concours” by the Violin Society of America.
Now based in Vannes, he travels the world as a jury member in the most prestigious competitions and is invited to give conferences in Germany, England, France, Italy, China and the USA.
He has received numerous commissions from musicians in France and internationally as well as from foundations (in Sweden, the USA, England and France).