Roland Pidoux

Roland Pidoux (29 October 1946 – 21 September 2025) was a French cellist and academic teacher. He was principal cellist of the Orchestre national de France from 1978 to 1987 and professor at the Conservatoire de Paris from 1988 to 2012. With a focus on chamber music, he played in a string quartet, a string trio and a piano trio, performing and recording with colleagues including violinist Régis Pasquier, violist Bruno Pasquier and pianist Jean-Claude Pennetier.

Pidoux was born in Paris on 29 October 1946. He studied at the Conservatoire de Paris until 1966 with André Navarra, Jean Hubeau, and Joseph Calvet. He founded the Ensemble Instrumental de France, which became the Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, with Jean-Pierre Wallez, and was a member of the Via Nova Quartet for seven years. He also founded the Wanderer Trio and was a founding member of Les Violoncelles Français, a cello octet.

He entered the orchestra of the Opéra de Paris in 1969, and then was principal cellist of the Orchestre national de France from 1978 to 1987. There, he played with cellists Pierre Fournier and Mstislav Rostropovich, flutist Jean-Pierre Rampal and violinist Isaac Stern. At the same time, he was a member of the New Pasquier Trio with Régis Pasquier (violin) and Bruno Pasquier (viola), succeeding the original 1927 Pasquier Trio of the father and uncles of the brothers. Pidoux also formed a piano trio with Jean-Claude Pennetier and Régis Pasquier.

Pidoux taught at the Académie musicale in Villecr…