Nicolas Altstaedt

This season he is Artist in Residence at the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra , where he performs with Krzysztof Urbánski, Hannu Lintu and Christoph Eschenbach on tour.

Other upcoming highlights include a tour at major European venues with the SWR Orchestra and Teodor Currentzis, a tour with B’Rock and René Jacobs, Debuts with the National Symphony Orchestra Washington and Ed Gardner, the NHK and Yomiuri Symphony at Suntory Hall , European Youth Orchestra with Vasily Petrenko, Orchestre National de France with Emmanuel Krivine, Il Giardino Armonico at Grafenegg Festival, KBS Symphony Orchestra, Les Violons du Roy, Netherland Philharmonic and Radio Philharmonic with Ben Gernon and Edo de Waart at Het Concertgebouw, Residentie Orkest and reinvitations to the DSO Berlin with Robin Ticciati, Gürzenich Orchestra and Karina Canellakis, Rotterdam Philharmonic, BBC Symphony at the Proms and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra.

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.

“The compelling French-German cellist Nicolas Altstaedt gave a performance of this compact 10-minute piece that thoroughly conveyed its audacious, even radical elements.

This was his New York recital debut. It’s about time.”

Anthony Tommasini, NY Times 22/02/16

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, Francois Xavier Roth, Sir Andrew Davis, Lahav Shani, Sir Neville Marriner, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Andrew Manze, Juraj Valcuha, Thomas Dausgaard, 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.

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, Francois Xavier Roth, Sir Andrew Davis, Lahav Shani, Sir Neville Marriner, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Andrew Manze, Juraj Valcuha, Thomas Dausgaard, 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.

Credit: original photography by Marco Borggreve