Bio 

Elsa Le Moigne’s early years took place in France, her home country. She started playing cello in her family circle in 2003. In 2014, after studying with Catherine Delanoue, she joined the TMD section (music and dance technique) in Reims with Marc Didier Thirault. The following years, she obtained a DEM (diploma of musical studies) in cello and chamber music, a COA (certificate of musical studies) in music theory and harmony, and the end of the 2nd cycle of piano studies - all with distinctions.

In 2018 she integrated the Ostinato Orchestra and became one of the young talents supported by the Talents et Violoncelles foundation. She participated in the festival Flâneries Musicales de Reims, playing Brahms’ Sonata with piano. Throughout these years, she participated in many masterclasses and workshops with great musicians such as Gary Hoffman, Emmanuelle Bertrand, Ian Orawiec, Raphaël Pidoux, Marc Coppey and Yvan Chiffoleau.

In 2019 she started studying at the Royal Conservatoire of The Hague with Michel Strauss and Jan Ype Nota for her bachelor’s degree. Three months later, she integrated the NJO (Nationaal Jeugdorkest). She started playing chamber music with Jorn Quirijnen, working on the sonata repertoire, performing a concert series with Domus Magnus and recording Shostakovitch’s Sonata.

At this point Elsa started to broaden her musical horizons: she integrated the Badass Soul Collective, a funk ensemble; she co-created the Kali ensemble, recording Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time and working with contemporary composers; in 2021 she integrated the Jong Metropole Orkest; she also collaborated with visual artists and singer songwriters. In 2021 she also started a jazz cello/e-bass minor with Tony Overwater and Rolf Delfos. She joined Les Impératrices, a female fusion band, as a bassist.   

In 2022, she co-created the Isle Quartet, a string quartet that writes, plays, and improvises their own arrangements and compositions and collaborates with jazz musicians and composers. Their main collaboration is with the Eigengrau Ensemble, merging a jazz trio, a string quartet and a singer. Their first EP Callio came out soon after they started playing together. Some of their notable perfomances are at the TudengiJazz Festival (EST) and the Muziekzomer Gelderland (NL). In 2024 they were awarded the 3rd prize of the Jonge Makers Prijs. 

In 2023, after graduating with a 9.5 from her classical bachelor and jazz minor, Elsa started a jazz cello master’s degree at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam. She is working with Jeffrey Bruinsma, Simon Rigter, Clemens van der Feen, Bert Boeren, Mick Stirling, Harmen Fraanje as well as guest teacher Ernst Reijseger. In parallel to her studies, she joined Suzan & Freek in the Ziggodome, Sportpaleis, Theater Carré, toured with The Underground (Club Guy and Roni, Nite, Asko Schönberg, HIIIT) all over the Netherlands and started playing with the Metropole Orkest. She also collaborated with Quintijn van Heek, with whom they won the best performance award at the Oskar Back Prijs. 

Elsa is aiming to write and arrange her own music and work with other art forms, as she did for her creation Entretisser with dancer Suzie Babin and videographer Kilyann Guillaume. She regularly composes for the Isle Quartet and recently arranged Philip Lassiter’s Tears of Joy for him and the quartet. She also enjoys working on pieces for solo cello, small jazz ensembles and orchestras.

Elsa plays on a cello made by François Varcin that she aquired with the support of SEM.