Nicolas Altstaedt

Source: HarrisonParrot

German-French cellist Nicolas Altstaedt is one of the most versatile and sought-after artists today. As a soloist, conductor, and artistic director, he performs repertoire ranging from early to contemporary music on both period and modern instruments.

Since Altstaedt’s critically acclaimed 2010 début with Wiener Philharmoniker and Gustavo Dudamel at the Lucerne Festival, notable residencies and collaborations include Budapest Festival Orchestra (Fischer), SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg (Currentzis), Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen (Adès), Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Helsinki Festival (Salonen), Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Münchner Philharmoniker, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin (Ticciati), Konzerthausorchester Berlin (Mallwitz), Philharmonia Orchestra (Järvi), London Philharmonic Orchestra, Bamberger Symphoniker, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra (Shani), Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra (Emelyanychev), Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, NHK and Yomiuri Nippon (Yamada) symphony orchestras, Sydney and New Zealand symphony orchestras (Runnicles), and Australian Chamber Orchestra.

Nicolas Altstaedt regularly performs on period instruments with ensembles such as Il Giardino Armonico with Giovanni Antonini, B’Rock with René Jacobs, Orchestre des Champs-Elysées with Philippe Herreweghe, Freiburger Barockorchester, and Arcangelo with Jonathan Cohen. As a conductor, he has forged close partnerships with Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Australian Chamber Orchestra, Münchener Kammerorchester (most recently as 2024/25 Artist in Focus), and Scottish Chamber Orchestra. In 2025/26 Altstaedt begins a three-year tenure as Tapiola Sinfonietta’s Artist in Association.

Joint appearances with composers such as Thomas Adès, Jörg Widmann, Fazıl Say and Sofia Gubaidulina have consolidated his reputation as an outstanding interpreter of contemporary music. Wolfgang Rihm, Sebastian Fagerlund, Widmann, Marton Illés and Thomas Larcher (among others) have written concertos and other works for him. Composed for him in 2024, Liza Lim’s cello concerto A Sutured World was described in a 5-star review in Limelight as “destined to become a signature work of the cello repertoire”. Altstaedt will also premiere new concertos by Francesca Verunelli, Enno Poppe and Miroslav Srnka in the coming seasons.

In 2012 Altstaedt succeeded Gidon Kremer as Artistic Director of the Lockenhaus Chamber Music Festival, and from 2014 to 2021 he was Artistic Director of Haydn Philharmonie at the Ésterházy Palace, succeeding Ádám Fischer and touring with the orchestra to Japan and China. His chamber music partners include Janine Jansen, Lawrence Power, Mao Fujita, Maxim Emelyanychev, Thomas Dunford, Jean Rondeau, Quatuor Ébène and Belcea Quartet. He regularly performs at major festivals including Salzburg, Verbier, BBC Proms, Lucerne, Edinburgh, Prague Spring, and Musikfest Bremen.

His 2024 recording of A Sutured World follows several critically acclaimed albums including a collection of chamber music works by Veress and Bartók on Alpha which garnered BBC Music Magazine’s 2020 Chamber Award and the Gramophone Classical Music Award 2020. Altstaedt received BBC Music Magazine’s 2017 Concerto Award for his recording of CPE Bach Concertos on Hyperion with Arcangelo (Cohen), and the AFAS Edison Klassiek 2017 for his recital recording with Fazıl Say on Warner Classics. Previous accolades include the Credit Suisse Award in 2010, Beethovenring Bonn 2015, Musikpreis der Stadt Duisburg 2018, and recognition as a 2010-12 BBC New Generation Artist.