Since September 2016, Guillaume Terrail has been assistant principal cellist with the Symphony Orchestra of the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona. Alongside his orchestral work, he is highly active as a soloist and chamber musician across various European countries. He has performed as a soloist with ensembles such as the Orchestre de Ribaupierre, the KIT Orchester in Karlsruhe, and the Gran Teatre del Liceu Symphony Orchestra itself, amongst others.
His commitment to chamber music has led him to give regular concerts across Europe and to take part in international festivals such as the Tibor Varga Festival (Switzerland) and the Bac Credomatic Festival (Costa Rica), where he performs with the string quartet, the UceLi Quartet, comprising members of the Liceu Orchestra. He is a member of the Neroli Trio and regularly collaborates with various ensembles, including the Barcelona Chamber Orchestra — as principal cellist — and the Art Symphony Ensemble. He also maintains an active collaboration in duo format with the pianists Laia Masramon, Renata Amirova and Véronique Werkle, as well as the jazz pianist Ralph Zurmühle. He has collaborated regularly with the AIMS Foundation (Solsona International Music Academy).
As an orchestral musician, he has performed under the baton of internationally renowned conductors such as Sir Simon Rattle, Kirill Petrenko, Dan Ettinger, Alain Altinoglu and Josep Pons, amongst others. During the 2015–2016 season, he was a member of the Stuttgart Philharmonic Orchestra (Germany).
Guillaume Terrail has always attached great importance to music education. Since the start of his professional career, he has been teaching the cello and spent three years as a lecturer at two conservatoires in Germany. He has also undertaken teaching assignments at the Haute École de Musique de Lausanne (HEMU, Switzerland) and the Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe (Germany). He regularly collaborates as a teacher with the Jove Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona and frequently gives masterclasses at various European conservatoires. Furthermore, he prepares young musicians for orchestra auditions using his own teaching method based on mock competitions. Since 2024, he has been teaching a course on the history of opera at the MEC – Moma Espai Cultural de Manresa.
Born in Lausanne and a Franco-Swiss national, he began studying the cello at the age of six at the Montreux Conservatoire of Music. In 2006, he enrolled at the Lausanne University of Music under the tutelage of Professor Susan Rybicki-Varga. He subsequently continued his training with Professor Carneiro and, in 2012, obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Music. He continued his studies in Germany with the cellist Martin Ostertag at the Karlsruhe University of Music, where he completed a Master’s degree in Performance in January 2015, receiving the highest mark from the examination board. At the same time, he has taken masterclasses with leading cellists such as Frans Helmerson, Claudio Bohórquez, Troels Svane, François Guye and László Fenyő. With a deep interest in chamber music, he furthered his training alongside cellist Peter Buck, members of the Fauré Quartett, pianist Ralf Gothoni and violinist Josef Rissin.
He has won prizes in various competitions and has received awards such as a scholarship from the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD) and support from Jeunesses Musicales Suisse.
Guillaume Terrail plays a modern instrument built in Berlin in 2016 by the luthier Ragnar Hayn.