Éric-Maria Couturier is a professor at the Conservatoires Nationales Supérieurs de Musique et de Danse in Paris and Lyon. He transmits in particular the teachings received from Roland Pidoux, Christian Ivaldi, Igor Gavrich, Patrick Moutal, Jorge Chaminé, as well as the inspiration given in him by the interpretations of Mstislav Rostropovich and Yoyo Ma.
Polymorphic and virtuoso, he regularly performs on the major international stages, solo, chamber music within the Talweg trio, with other artists such as Mauricio Pollini, Martha Argerich, Juliana Steinbach, or with the Ensemble intercontemporain which he joined in 2002. Together with the composer Olivier Derivière, they create the music for the video game Plague innocent tale / Requiem, as well as other games such as Dying Light or Vampyre.
He shares the stage of improvised music with David Linx, Laika and the Unit, Sébastien Lanson, and the electronics of the trio Plug with Michele Rabbia and Nicolas Crosse. He partners with Bertrand
Chavarria to create a piece illustrating the energy of karate. In Japan and Europe he plays with Noh singer Ryoko Aoki and percussionist Tsuchitori Toshi, Peter Brook's collaborator.
Éric-Maria Couturier has worked with the greatest conductors such as Pierre Boulez, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Georg Solti, Carlo-Maria Giulini, Peter Eötvös, Susanna Mälkki, Jonathan Nott, Esa-Pekka Salonen, among others. He performed as a soloist in Haydn's cello concertos, Dvořák, double by Brahms, Shostakovich, Eötvös, Fujikura, Kurtág, Merlin, Pfitzner, Saariaho and Robin, of which he is a dedicatee of the Quarks concerto.
Passionate about pedagogy based on improvisation and the discovery of new techniques, he created Les Ateliers du violoncelle with Noémie Boutin and Vincent Courtois with whom he regularly plays in duo.
He plays the bows of Claudia Carmona and Jean Grumberger.