Born in Turin, Italy, Swiss-Italian cellist Claude Frochaux began playing the cello at the age of six at the Suzuki Talent Center, then at the Conservatory of Turin. Studies followed in Frankfurt with Michael Sanderling, where he completed his diploma and his concert examination with the highest rating in the soloist class, as well as postgraduate studies with honours in Essen and Madrid. He received further artistic inspiration from Eberhard Feltz, Menahem Pressler, Ferenc Rados, Ralf Gothoni among others and was supported by the foundations De Sono, Live Music Now and Anna Ruths.

Besides Italy and other European countries, solo and chamber music concerts have brought him to North and South America, India and China with performances in halls such as the Wigmore Hall and King’s Place London,Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Alte Oper Frankfurt, Konzerthaus Berlin, Kölner Philharmonie, Musikverein Wien, Parco della Musica Roma, Auditorium Sony Madrid, Arvo Pärt Centre Estonia, as well as the NCPA Theatre Mumbai and Teatro del Lago Chile. As a sought-after and passionate chamber musician, he is a guest at festivals including Enescu Bukarest, Kuhmo Finland, Oxford, Baltic Sea Festival, Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Mozartfest Würzburg, Beethovenfest Bonn and and has been broadcast on BR, WDR, SWR, NDR, Deutschlandfunk, RAI3 and Radio Clasica.

Frochaux worked together with composers such as Pēteris Vasks, Krzysztof Penderecki, Sally Beamish and Arvo Pärt, who wrote about him “I appreciate very much Mr Frochaux’s talent and skills as a cellist … I was very impressed by his interpretation of my works.” He plays in ensembles such as O/Modernt Stockholm or Chamber Orchestra of Europe. In 2008 he founded Monte Piano Trio with which he has won numerous international prizes -Maria Canals Barcelona, Schumann Frankfurt, Folkwang Prize Essen, Brahms Austria, European Chamber Music Competition Karlsruhe. The Trio has released two CDs on the Genuin Classics label which received many accolades including five star reviews in Fonoforum Magazine, being part of the Klassik Stars program on BR Klassik, as well as being chosen as CD of the Month on Stereo Magazine. It is featured on the soundtrack of “Maestro”, a documentary film which explores the life of musicians through the eyes of Paavo Järvi.

Claude Frochaux is the artistic director of Kammermusikfest Sylt, an international chamber music festival that is held on the German island every year since 2012. Furthermore he founded MUSICA+, a musical concept that aims to bring very different groups of people to classical music with chamber, school, and children’s concerts as well as workshops. The project is based at the Orangerie am Günthersburgpark in Frankfurt am Main.

Claude Frochaux plays a G. F. Celoniato cello from Turin 1720, and a G. Rivolta baroque cello, Milan 1818, which he owes to a private loan.