French cellist Léa Besançon is pursuing an unconventional career path that bears witness to her artistic curiosity. She was trained at the Conservatoire Royal de Bruxelles in Marie Hallynck‘s class, where she obtained her Master’s degree in 2010. During seven years, she was a member of the Nomos Ensemble, founded by Christophe Roy and specialized in contemporary classical music. She then turned her attention to traditional oriental and Arab-Andalusian music, collaborating regularly with Arab artists such as the Moroccan singer Rafik El Maai, the Iraqi santur player Wesam El Azzawi, the women’s ensemble ARIJ from Tangiers, the Syrian qanun player Youssef Nassif, the oud player Abid Bahri, etc. Her collaboration with oudist Tristan Driessens (Soolmaan Quintet, La Compagnie d’Elias) has also led her to broaden her horizons towards jazz, folk and world music. In 2014, she founded the Trio Maïandros with violinist C. Sauvager and pianist B. Wendremaire, a bridging project that juxtaposes music from written and oral traditions (particularly Klezmer) in its concerts.