NICOLAS ALTSTAEDT
German-French cellist Nicolas Altstaedt is one of the most sought after and versatile artists today. As a soloist, conductor and artistic director, he performs repertoire spanning from early music to the contemporary.
In 18/19 he will be the Artist in residence at the NDR Elbphilarmonie, where he will perform with Krzysztof Urbánksi, Hannu Lintu and Christoph Eschenbach on tour. Other upcoming highlights include debuts with Orchestre National de France, Yomiuri Symphony at Suntory Hall, Il Giardino Armonico at Grafenegg Festival, KBS Symphony Orchestra, Les Violons du Roy, Netherland Philharmonic at Het Concertgebouw, Residentie Orkest and reinvitations to the DSO Berlin, Rotterdam Philharmonic, BBC Symphony on tour, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and a tour of major European venues with the SWR Orchestra and Teodor Currentzis. Recent highlights, include concerto debuts with Detroit Symphony and Helsinki Philharmonic and recital debuts at BOZAR Brussels, Carnegie Hall, Théâtre des Champs Elysées, Paris and Koerner Hall, Toronto and a tour through Australia.
As a conductor, he will debut with the SWR Stuttgart, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the Aurora, Zurich and Scottish Chamber Orchestras and l’Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne. During the 17/18 season, Nicolas gave the highly acclaimed Finnish Premiere of Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Cello Concerto under the baton of the composer at the Helsinki Festival and was also the Artist in Spotlight at the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam.
Awarded the Credit Suisse Young Artist Award in 2010, he gave a critically praised performance of the Schumann Concerto with the Vienna Philharmonic under Gustavo Dudamel at the Lucerne Festival. Since then, he has performed worldwide with orchestras such as the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic, all BBC Orchestras, Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, Melbourne and New Zealand Symphony Orchestras with conductors including Sir Roger Norrington, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Sir Andrew Davis, Lahav Shani, Robin Ticciati, Sir Neville Marriner, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Andrew Manze, Emanuel Krivine, Juraj Valcuha, Thomas Dausgaard, Dmitri Slobodeniouk, Thierry Fischer, Ben Gernon, Karina Canellakis, René Jacobs, Giovanni Antonini and Andrea Marcon amongst others.
In 2012, Nicolas was chosen by Gidon Kremer to succeed him as the new artistic director of the Lockenhaus Chamber Music Festival and in 2014 by Adam Fischer to become the new Artistic Director of the Haydn Philharmonie whom he regularly performs with at the Vienna Konzerthaus, Esterházy Festival and recently on tour in both China and Japan. Nicolas will be Artistic Director of the Pfingstfestspiele Ittingen 2019 and 2020.
As a chamber musician, Nicolas partners include with Janine Jansen, Vilde Frang, Christian Tetzlaff, Pekka Kuusisto, Tabea Zimmermann, Lawrence Power, Antoine Tamestit, Martin Fröst, Alexander Lonquich, Jonathan Cohen, Jean Rondeau and the Quatuor Ébène. He performs at both Salzburg Mozart and Summer Festival, Verbier, Utrecht, BBC Proms, Lucerne, Gstaad, Musikfest Bremen, Schleswig-Holstein and Rheingau. Nicolas regularly perfoms new music and has performed and worked with Thomas Ades, Jörg Widmann, Wolfgang Rihm, Thomas Larcher, Fazil Say and Sofia Gubaidulina.
Nicolas’ recording of CPE Bach Concertos on Hyperion with Arcangelo and Jonathan Cohen received the BBC Music Magazine Concerto Award 2017. His latest recording – Four Cities – a recital programme of works by Say, Debussy, Shostakovich and Janacek with Fazil Say was released on Warner Classics to great acclaim and received the Edison Klassiek 2017. Nicolas will receive the Musikpreis der Stadt Duisburg 2018. Nicolas was a BBC New Generation Artist 2010-2012 and a recipient of the „Borletti Buitoni Trust Fellowship“ in 2009.