Acclaimed for his great sensitivity and temperament, French cellist Damien Ventula, « Génération Spedidam 2010 », was nominated in 2005 for the « Victoires de la Musique » as a « Révélation soliste instrumental ». In 2003 he was chosen as the “Révélation Classique de l’Adami“ and has been the recipient of many other awards, including the Marcel Bleustein- Blanchet, Piatigorsky and Singer-Polignac prizes.

Coming from a family of musicians in the south of France, Damien Ventula studied from an early age with renowned masters: Lluis Claret in his native Toulouse, Bernard Greenhouse and Laurence Lesser in Boston and Boris Pergamenschikow in Berlin, where he still lives and works.

Damien Ventula appeared as a soloist in France with the Toulouse National Chamber Orchestra and in Germany with the Mannheim Kammerorchester and the Berliner Symphoniker. He also performed for international festivals, including the Saint Bertrand de Comminges Festival, the Pablo Casals de Prades Festival, the La Chaise-Dieu Festival (France), the Bad-Homburg Festival (Germany), the Holland Music Sessions, the Kuala Lumpur Chamber Music Festival (Malaisia) and the Bacau Festival (Romania).

As a chamber musician, Damien Ventula was a founding member of the Quartet Cuarteto Arriaga who played in 2010-2011 at the Wigmore Hall of London, at the Royal Palace of Madrid, the Gewandhaus Leipzig, the Musika – Música Festival and at the Lockenhaus Festival. He appears regularly with the pianist Sam Haywood and has collaborated with other distinguished artists including Barbara Hendricks, Christian Zacharias, Frans Helmerson, Hartmut Rohde, the Quatuor Talich, Vladimir Mendelssohn, Denis Pascal, Michel Lethiec, or Wolfgang Güttler.

A sincere and passionate performer, Damien Ventula loves to share the emotion and enthusiasm he feels when playing the cello with other musicians, with his audience, or also with students, as he teaches in France at the Versailles Conservatory, the Academy Gyorgi Sebok of the Festival Piano Pic, Indonesia, or in Japan, and has been teaching at the famous Hanns Eisler Hochschule for Music, Berlin, since 2013.

His first recording, « Arc en Cello », which was devoted to contemporary componists from Toulouse, was released in December 2008 with the label « La Nuit Transfigurée » and a new recording will be released in April 2016 with Klarthe Label (Harmonia Mundi Distribution) where he recorded with pianist Nicolas Bringuier Gabriel Fauré’s pieces for cello and piano.