Nicolas Altstaedt
German/French cellist Nicolas Altstaedt is a versatile artist being equally at home at performing on period instruments, the classical repertoire and commissioning new music.
Nicolas was one of Boris Pergamenschikow's last students in Berlin, where he continued his studies with Eberhard Feltz.
After having won several international competitions and a "Borletti Buitoni Trust Fellowship" in 2009, he was awarded the Credit Suisse Young Artist Award 2010 where he performed with the Vienna Philharmonic, under Gustavo Dudamel at the Lucerne Festival. As a BBC New Generation Artist 2010-2012 he has performed with all BBC Orchestras, at the Proms and the Wigmore Hall.
Highlights of his career include concerts with orchestras such as Tonhalle Zurich, Tchaikovsky Symphony, Simon Bolivar, Vienna, Stuttgart, Helsinki, Melbourne- and New Zealand Symphony Orchestras, Bamberger Symphoniker, and the Munich, Zurich and Stuttgart Chamber Orchestras, as well as the Netherlands Philharmonic.
Nicolas will be making his debut performance next season at Cologne Philharmony playing on period instruments with Jonathan Cohen and his ensemble Arcangelo, at the Menuhin Festival Gstaad and at the Amsterdam Cellobiennale. He will return to the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican, Auckland Philharmonic and Real Filharmonía de Galicia, Alice Tully Hall New York and will be touring with Kremerata Baltica, Camerata Bern and Pekka Kuusisto where he will also be leading whole programs. He will also direct a series of chamber music program at Musikkollegium Winterthur in 2014/2015.
Nicolas feels a deep commitment towards contemporary music and regularly performs with noteworthy contemporary composers. He has furthermore played various world premieres and in 2012 had a cello sonata written for him by Fazil Say.
He is a guest artist of the Chamber Music Society Lincoln Center New York and at festivals like the Salzburg Mozart and Summer Festivals, Utrecht, Stavanger, Delft, Ainola, and Kaposvár.
In 2012 Nicolas was chosen by Gidon Kremer to become his successor as the new artistic director of the Lockenhaus Chamber Music Festival. Since then the festival has also been touring and performing at venues like Mozarteum Salzburg, Wiener Konzerthaus, Musikverein Graz and the Concertgebouw Amsterdam.
Nicolas’ recordings of classical and contemporary composers have received high international acclaim, amongst which there is a world premiere recording of pieces by Wilhelm Killmayer with José Gallardo. The labels he works with are Claves and NEOS.
Nicolas Altstaedt plays a Giulio Cesare Gigli cello from Rome made around 1770 and a cello by Robert König made in 2012.