Biography

Maxime Grizard was born in Jena in 2006 into a German-French family. He started playing the piano at the age of seven and received his first cello lesson one year later. He has been a student of Claire Oppert for six years, initially at the Claude Debussy Conservatory in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, where he received his diploma (Diplôme d’Etudes Musicales) with the highest distinction in June 2019. Since then he has been taking private lessons with her. At the same time, he receives piano and music theory lessons from the Russian pianist Roustem Saïtkoulov. 

Maxime attends master classes from Oleg Kogan in London, Jerôme Pernoo in Paris and Vladimir Perlin in Minsk. He is also a scholarship holder of the International Music Academy Lichtenstein and takes part in the intensive weeks and activities of the academy.

Maxime won 1st prizes in numerous competitions, in 2016 and 2017 in the competition “Vatelot-Rampal”, in 2017 in the “International Competition FLAME” in Paris and in 2019 in the national competition “Jugend musiziert”. In addition, he received special prizes from the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben and the Harald Genzmer Stiftung for his interpretation of Shostakovich's cello sonata at the weekend of special prizes (Wasp) 2019 in Münster. In 2020 he was awarded the 3rd prize as the best cellist in the “Young Ludwig” competition in Berlin. 

In 2017, Maxime became known throughout France as the winner of the "Instrument" category at the “Prodiges” TV competition. He impressed the audience with the music of Schubert, Rachmaninoff and Williams together with the Strasbourg Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2018 he then recorded a CD for Warner Classics with works by Rachmaninov, Kreisler, Bechet, Prokofjew, Popper, Williams and Mozart, partly with the Avignon-Provence Orchestra. 

Maxime performs regularly at home and abroad, in a duo with the pianist Roustem Saïtkoulov, but also with an orchestra and as a chamber musician. He mainly plays the cello and occasionally the piano. Highlights were the concerts at the Viotti Festival in Vercelli in Italy, at the Festival Saint-Robert in France and in the Minsk Philharmonic in Belarus. 

Maxime is supported by the Razumovsky Foundation in London, the Académie Musicale de Villecroze and the Pierre Grosz Foundation.