Hailed for her “refined musicality and her clear, singing tone” (Danbury News Times) cellist Madeleine Bouissou has a vision to redefine the purpose of performing on classical instruments among her peers and pupils. From a young age, Madeleine displayed an unorthodox curiosity towards life (she was that kid who wore two different shoes) and from the moment she picked up the cello, her hunger for answers was fed with expression through music.

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She enrolled in Juilliard Pre-College at the age of 14 and then continued at The Juilliard School where she completed her bachelor’s degree. Madeleine quickly became an advocate for new music, as she found a constant sense of discovery, freedom from tradition, and responsibility to make new composers’ voices heard through new music. This passion led her to tour with Kate Simko’s London Electronic Orchestra in 2017. 

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When Madeleine found the baroque cello her world changed as it did through new music. The combination of finding new technique with gut strings and focus on research to inform musical decisions gave her a renewed sense of purpose and inspired her to earn her master’s degree as a full scholarship student in historical performance at Juilliard where she had the privilege of performing as a soloist alongside such luminaries as violinist Rachel Podger. Her two worlds of contemporary and historically-informed performance came together when she was a featured soloist giving the world premiere performance of Varsha by Reena Esmail on baroque cello, as part of the Seven Last Words Project at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City.

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Her deepest passion is approaching canonic repertoire for classical instruments in a historically-informed way with the goal to infuse freshness in this repertoire. Last summer she was invited back to perform as a laureate at the Valley of the Moon Music Festival in Sonoma Valley where she performed with violinists Rachel Barton-Pine and Cynthia Freivogel. Her recent performance with Charles Neidich in Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet promoted the New York Concert Review to praise her “total involvement with the inner life of the lowest voice, [which] was a consistent pleasure.” Since her graduation in May of 2019, she has appeared with ensembles such as the Boston Early Music Festival, the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century, Theater of Early Music, and The Sebastians. She also earned her Artist Certificate diploma from The Royal Conservatory of The Hague in baroque cello.

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Madeleine grew up in a French restaurant with two chefs as parents. Raised with fine food and intense work ethic, she values hard work and creative expression. She maintains an active career as a freelance cellist and teacher based in The Hague. Madeleine is also a proud fellow of the English Consort in America fellowship.