Jean Deplace

French cellist and cello teacher Jean Deplace was born at Saint-Étienne in the Massif Central in about 1944. He was one of the last students of French cellist Maurice Maréchal (1892-1964) at the Conservatoire national supérieur de musique et de danse de Paris, winning first prize for cello there. Later he won awards at competitions in Geneva, Budapest and Florence, and also received an award from the Sasha Schneider Foundation. He played with l'Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, l'Orchestre de Monte Carlo, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino.

In 1971 he married pianist Andrée Plaine, and together they performed in Europe, North America and Japan. He became principal cello of the Orchestre philharmonique de Strasbourg, and from 1981 he was professor of cello at the Conservatoire de Lyon. Many well-known musicians studied with him, including Anne Gastinel and Emmanuelle Bertrand.

Jean Deplace died in Strasbourg on 30 November 2015, aged seventy-one.