Francois G.,
Francois was born in Shanghai, China. He’s fluent in Mandarin, French and English. He began to play the cello at 8. He moved to Paris at 13 to study at the CRR of Paris with Hélène Dautry.
At the age of 15, he met the distinguished French professor Philippe Muller, who had recently retired from his position at the Conservatoire de Paris to begin teaching at Manhattan School of Music.
With Professor Muller, he was able to learn an extensive part of the cello repertoire, from solo works such as the complete Bach suites, to sonatas and rarely played concertos like the Daris Milhaud concerto or the Paul Hindemith cello concerto.
Francois has received tutelage from renowned cellists such as Gary Hoffman, Maria Kliegel, Hans Jensen, Cavier Phillips, Troels Svane, Alban Gerhardt and Istvan Vardai. He has received coaching from Nicolas Mann, Daniel Avshalomov of the American String Quartet and Eugene Drucker of the Emerson String Quartet. He is currently pursuing his last year of bachelor’s degree at Manhattan School of Music.
An avid chamber musician, he is regularly invited to the Lycée Français for New York to perform in the monthly Lunch Concert Series. He is a member of recently formed ensembles, Understaffed and Village Verein.
Teaching philosophy:
My goal in teaching is to have the student experience the joy of music making. Whether it’s getting rid of unnecessary tension in the body, or developing creativeness, a student should enjoy problem solving and working with their imagination. The music and technique they learn during a lesson should carry to their practice time. My method resolves around storytelling and intuition. Stories enrich the technical explanation of the instrument. They allow vivid images to reinforce a simple mechanic instruction. Singing and rhythms are aimed to siphon the innate capabilities and sensibilities of a student. The instrument should be an extent of the body, a pencil to our mind’ s scribbles.
Francois teaches private cello lessons.