Double bass
Laurène Durantel is full of ideas. Creative as she is, she immediately saw the possibilities and decided Ensemble Variances was the ideal ensemble to perform her kind of music with and develop her skills and ideas. According to her, "Thierry’s music is like a language, colourful and sensual, full of beautiful sentences, human and constantly changing". Although new recruit in Ensemble Variances, this is not the first assignment of the double bass player. Originally from Champagne-Ardenne, she grew up in a family of musicians.
The double-bass is an instrument which can be envisaged in many ways. Laurène Durantel is one of the artists who want to play with many faces of this instrument.
After studies in Conservatoire National Supérieur of Paris, Laurène Durantel becomes a member of Orchestre national de Toulouse, then principal double-bass in the same orchestra.
She recorded two CDs dedicated to composer Giovanni Bottesinni, with pianist Daniel Benzakoun and violinist Eric Lacrouts.
As a soloist and chamber musician, she performs in great venues in Europe, and plays next to musicians such as Ebene quartet, Belcea quartet, Navarra quartet, Sacconi quartet, Elias Quartet, Valentin Erben, Skampa quartet, David Violi, François Salque, Matthias Goerne, Celine Frisch, Marc Bouchkov...
She is giving a central part to teaching, and is developing a real reflexion about pedagogy. She founds in 2003 the "Académie de Contrebasse", for ten years.
Member of Ensemble Carpe Diem, teaching in CRR of Toulouse, she is a former member of Ensemble 360.
She now plays with Ensemble Variances with composer Thierry Pécou, Ensemble Calliopée and Ensemble Tm+. She is a member of string quintet Smoking Josephine with Geneviève Laurenceau.
She is performing in solo and chamber music in venues such as Wigmore Hall in London, Theatre de la Ville in Paris, Hamburg Laeiszhalle, Auditorium de Dijon...
She received in 2015 the Nordmetall prize in Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommen.
She became in 2013 laureat from Festival Juventus.