The Franco-dutch viola da gamba player/cellist Ronan Kernoa completed his musical studies at the Conservatoire National de Région de Rouen obtaining first prizes in both cello and chamber music with the greatest distinction.
Having acquired an early interest for ancient music through his father, a musicologist and lutenist, he attended the classes of Claire Giardelli and Jaap ter Linden, after which he decided to specialize in historically informed performance for string instruments.
Following a study with Philippe Foulon in Paris, he entered the Royal Brussels Conservatoire (Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel) as a student of Alain Gervreau graduating with the highest distinction, in 2009, as a Master in Music.
He then went on to study the viola da gamba under the guidance of Wieland Kuijken and Philippe Pierlot ; and graduate again with the highest distinction in Pierlot’s class at KCB in 2018 and was awarded the price Ingeborg Köberle.
Since 2004 Ronan Kernoa plays exclusively on period instruments (cellos and gamba of various tuning and sizes; Basse de violon), he is very interested in all the different historical techniques (instrument and bow position, for instance) and in many musicological information. His field of activity also includes classical and romantic repertoires, in particular in chamber music.
He is frequently invited to participate, often as thoroughbass player and soloist, in concerts and/or recordings of several ensembles, such as La Petite Bande (Sigiswald Kuijken), Bach Concentus (Ewald Demeyere), Les Muffatti (Peter Van Heyghen), Le Parlement de Musique (Martin Gester), Les Agrémens (Guy Van Waas), Akademia (Françoise Lasserre), Elyma (Gabriel Garrido), Le Cercle de l’Harmonie (Jérémie Rohrer), Il Fondamento (Paul Dombrecht), Le Caravansérail (Bertrand Cuiller), Il Gardellino (Marcel Ponseele & Jan de Winne), Anima Eterna (Jos Van Immerseel), Apotheosis (Korneel Bernolet) Scherzi Musicali (Nicolas Achten), Vox Luminis (Lionel Meunier),A Nocte Temporis (Reinoud Van Mechelen), and many others.
Ronan Kernoa is cofounder of the Belgian baroque ensemble Les Abbagliati.
Solo récitals and Chamber music performances form an important part Ronan Kernoa’s activity,with a.o. Barthold Kuijken, Sigiswald Kuijken, François Fernandez, Marcel Ponseele, Bart Coen, Benjamin Alard,, Ewald Demeyere,, Ryo Terakado,… He is guest of numerous festival and concert hall as:
Festival Internazionale di Musica Antica Milano Arte Musica (Italy), Ambronay (France), Midis-minimes, Bruxelles (Belgium), Köthener Bach Festtage (Germany), Nagoya International Music Festival (Japan), Kadriorg Palace Tallinn (Estonia), Saint Cecilia’s Hall-Edinburgh (Scotland), Rundale Palace (Lithuania), Haute école de musique de Genève (Switserland), BarokkFest Trondheim (Norway), Festival de Musica da Madeira (Portugal),Tlaqna concert hall Xalapa (Mexico) Festival van Vlaanderen (Belgium), House of Nobility, Elsinki (Finland), Barocktage Stift Melk (Austria), Megaron, Athènes (Greece), Bratislava Music Festival (Slovaquie), Festivalul de Muzica Veche Bucuresti (Romania), Zaryadye Concert Hall, Moscow (Russia) Echi lontani (Sardaigne), Nissay Music Ways Tokyo(Japan), Istanbul Bach Days (Turquie), Oude Muziek Utrecht (Holland)…
The many recordings he made are to be found by the labels: Sony Classical Vivarte, K 617, Ricercar, Accent, Avanti Classic, Ediciones Singulares, Challenge Records, Ramée, Mirare, Alpha.
His dedication for pedagogy lead the Belgian resident to be often invited by different institution like Hochschule für Musik und Theater Leipzig, University of Veracruz, Royal Conservatory of Antwerp as a teacher.
And is also invited as a jury member in Lemmensinstituut Leuven, Conservatorium Leuven, Académie de Woluwe-Saint-Lambert, CRR de Besançon, KCB Brussel…
He is currently teacher for viola da gamba and baroque cello at the IMEP in Namur, where he created the class.