"Combining choreographic gesture with rhetoric, earthly robustness with spiritual uplift, Marc Coppey's performance is overwhelmed with a jubilant vitality."   (Gilles Macassar, Télérama)

In 1988, the music world was taking notice of the eighteen-year-old Coppey, winner of the two highest awards at the Bach competition in Leipzig - first prize and a special prize for the best interpretation of Bach. The previous year he had won 1st prize in the International Competition of Young Soloists in Douai.

Singled out early on by Yehudi Menuhin, he made his début in Moscow and Paris in the Tchaïkovsky Trio with Menuhin and Victoria Postnikova, at a concert filmed by Bruno Monsaingeon.  Rostropovitch invited him to the Evian Festival, and from that moment his solo career took off.  He has been a soloist with major orchestras under the baton of conductors such as Emmanuel Krivine, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Michel Plasson, Jean-Claude Casadesus, Theodor Guschlbauer, Pascal Rophé, Yutaka Sado, John Nelson, Raymond Leppard, Erich Bergel, Alan Gilbert, Lionel Bringuier, Kirill Karabits, Paul McCreesh or Asher Fisch.

Passionately fond of chamber music, Marc Coppey has explored and performed the repertoire with artists such as Maria-Joao Pires, Stephen Kovacevich, Nicholas Angelich, Aleksandar Madzar, Michel Beroff, Peter Laul, Augustin Dumay, Victoria Mullova, Tedi Papavrami, Ilya Gringolts, Laurent Korcia, David Grimal, Gérard Caussé, Janos Starker, Marie-Pierre Langlamet, Michel Portal, Paul Meyer, Emmanuel Pahud and the Prazak and Talich Quartets. From 1995 to 2000 he was a member of the Ysaÿe Quartet, and with them, performed at the most prestigious concert venues in the world.

Marc Coppey has performed Londres, Berlin, Paris, Bruxelles, Dublin, Prague, Budapest, Moscow, Saint-Petersburg or Tokyo. He is regularly invited to the festivals of Radio-France-Montpellier, Strasbourg, Besançon, La Roque d'Anthéron, Nantes "Folles journées" Stuttgart, Midem, Kuhmo, Korsholm or Prades.

Marc Coppey's choice of repertoire is eclectic and innovative. He frequently plays the complete Bach Suites and well-known and loved concert repertoire, as well as bringing to the public's attention works that are rarely heard. The performance and promotion of contemporary music holds a great interest for him, and composers such as Durieux, Fénelon, Jarrell, Krawczyk, Lenot, Monnet, Pauset, Reverdy and Tanguy have all dedicated works to him. He gave the world premieres of Lenot's Concerto, Tanguy's 1st Concerto and the French premiere of Elliott Carter Concerto.

This season, Marc Coppey will peform as a soloist with the Orchestre National de France, Philharmonique de Radio-France, Mexico Symphonic Orchestras, the English Chamber Orchestras, as well as with Liège, Monte-Carlo, Lille, Nancy, Cannes or Nice orchestras.

Marc Coppey's many fine recordings have received lavish praise from the critics. They include works by Beethoven, Debussy, Emmanuel, Fauré, Grieg and Strauss, produced by the labels Auvidis, Decca, Harmonia Mundi and K617. His latest releases are the complete Bach Suites (which was awarded Télérama's ffff ) and a CD dedicated to Dohnanyi (which featured in the "10 de Répertoire"), both recorded for the Aeon/Harmonia Mundi label, and he joined the Prazak Quartet to record the Schubert Quintet for the Praga label. Early 2006 has seen the release of two more CD recordings: one of the great Russian cello sonatas, played with pianist Peter Laul (on the Aeon label) and the other a performance of Martin Matalon's concerto (on Accord/ Universal). In 2008, Dutilleux and Caplet Concertos with Liège Orchestra under Pascal Rophé as well as the Brahms Sonatas have been released.

Marc Coppey combines his solo career with a concern for teaching: he is a professor at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris and gives master-classes all over the world.

Marc Coppey is the artistic director of the Colmar chamber music festival.

He performs on a rare cello by Matteo Goffriller (Venice 1711).

2008