Francis Palma-Pelletier has a passion for the historical double bass, aiming to reproduce the articulations and tone qualities of each period using different instruments, including period strings and bows.
He completed a Bachelor Degree in Performance at McGill University, followed by postgraduate studies in early music at the Schola Cantorum in Basel, Switzerland. During his six years in Europe, he performed in Basel, Lucerne, Bern, Zürich, Paris, Berlin, Oslo, and Stuttgart with professionals ensembles professionnels like Barockorchester Capriccio Basel, Collegium Musicum Luzern, Freitagsakademie Bern and l’Orchestre des Champs Elysées.
Since his return to Montreal in 2008, Palma-Pelletier has focused his attention on his personal project, the Duo Contracello of double bass and cello, to which he devotes most of his performing efforts. He has also collaborated with early music ensembles such as Galileo, Les Idées heureuses, Les Boréades and Tafelmusik.
He was invited to perform a viennese concerto in Montréal and in Luxembourg.
He plays on a violone with 5 strings and 7 frettes crafted in 2005 by the toscan luthier Sergio Gistri after the Maggini (Dolmetsch collection) of the Horniman Museum in London.
