Né de la rencontre entre deux virtuoses particulièrement créatifs, « Loco Cello » (le violoncelle en folie) projette un éclairage inédit sur le jazz, le classique, le tango et les musiques traditionnelles d’Europe centrale. Tantôt élégante et lyrique, tantôt virtuose et incandescente, leur musique célèbre l’union de différentes traditions musicales, du tango au jazz, du répertoire classique aux musiques du monde, des thèmes traditionnels aux musiques actuelles, rythmées par d’étonnantes cascades sonores et autres explosions folkloriques évocatrices qu’ils réinventent ensemble avec une intuition inouïe des croisements.
Samuel Strouk (b. 1980) is a French composer, guitarist, and artistic director whose music bridges classical tradition, jazz, and contemporary creation. A graduate of the Conservatoire Supérieur de Paris-CNR and the Conservatoire of Montpellier, he has built a unique voice shaped by both written and improvised forms.
His career has been marked by international recognition, including the Cubadisco Award (Cuban Music Awards) in 2007 for his album Carhabana (EGREM), and the FAJE grant from the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation in 2016 for his project Babel Melody: A Dialogue of Languages.
Recent highlights include his role as musical director and arranger of Trintignant Mille Piazzolla (SONY) — winner of the Grand Prix du Disque de l’Académie Charles Cros in 2018 — the world premiere of his double concerto Élise, mon mirage at Moscow’s Zaryadye Hall (2021), and his symphonic tribute Django 70th, created in 2023 with the Orchestre National d’Île-de-France at the Django Reinhardt Festival. His double concerto Le Rêve de Maya, for cello, accordion, and orchestra, has met with acclaim in France, Russia, and Finland. His first orchestral album, to be released in autumn 2024, brings together two of his most performed concertos and offers a synthesis of his symphonic writing.
Strouk’s music is commissioned by leading institutions such as Radio France, Columbia College Chicago, the Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra of Moscow Radio, and the Orchestre National de Bretagne. His works are performed internationally by acclaimed artists including Boris Andrianov, Biréli Lagrène, Dmitri Illarionov, André Ceccarelli, Rolando Luna, and Yaroldy Abreu.
As a guitarist, he has released several albums and composed Égalité, a concerto where the classical and gypsy jazz guitars meet in a poetic dialogue inspired by Django Reinhardt.
Beyond composition and performance, Samuel Strouk also curates jazz festivals and multidisciplinary projects. His artistic vision embraces freedom, dialogue, and the reinvention of musical language — making him one of today’s most distinctive voices in contemporary instrumental music.