Multifaceted French cellist Ophélie Gaillard performs works from the Baroque, Romantic and modern repertoires with equal distinction and nuance. Born in Paris in 1974, Gaillard earned first prizes in modern cello, Baroque cello and chamber music at the Paris Conservatory. She co-founded her first ensemble, Amarillis, with her recorder-oboist sister, Héloïse, in 1994; she then taught and performed in various groups before releasing a debut recording in 2005 devoted to Britten’s contemplative second and third cello suites and his cello sonata. That same year, Gaillard launched her own chamber group, Pulcinella, with whom she has performed music by Verdi, Boccherini, and both J.S. and C.P.E. Bach. When not performing Baroque music on her five-string 1737 Matteo Goffriller cello—briefly stolen from her in 2018—Gaillard has been involved in a series of intriguing conceptual albums. These include Alvorada (2015), a collection of classical and popular music from Spain and South America; Exiles (2017), featuring the music of expatriated Jewish composers Erich Wolfgang Korngold and Ernst Bloch; and Cellopera (2021), which replaces celebrated vocal arias with Gaillard’s singing cello