Léonard Frey-Maibach was born in Lyon (France) and began his cello studies with Fernando Rapetti, and later with Patrick Gabard. At 16 he entered the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris with Roland Pidoux and Xavier Phillips and then studied with Julius Berger at the Leopold Mozart Zentrum Augsburg. He has been a member of the Academy of the Munich Philharmonic under Lorin Maazel and Zubin Mehta and from 2008 to 2011 member of the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester.

In 2014 he was nominated Solo Cello of the Gewandhausorchester in Leipzig, and in 2015 appointed 1st Principal under Riccardo Chailly. Today, Léonard Frey-Maibach is the 1st Principal cellist of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande in Geneva and Principal Cellist of the Bayreuth Festival Orchestra. He is regularly invited as a teacher at the Guildhall School in London, Shanghai University, LMZ Augsburg, Tokyo School of Music, and others. Since 2017 he regularly coaches the cello sections Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester.

From 2014 until 2018 he was a member of the Gewandhaus-Quartett and performed at major international venues, from Europe to Asia and South America. In 2016 Léonard Frey-Maibach created with the choreographer Juliette Rahon the interdisciplinary dance ensemble Juliette Rahon & Co, of which he is the co-artistic director.