



Nicolas Altstaedt
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“The cellist Nicolas Altstaedt is an artist a category on its own”
(Hamburger Abendblatt)
Artistic Director: Lockenhaus Chamber Music Festival
Described as an artist “in a category of his own” (Hamburger Abendblatt), Nicolas Altstaedt is one of today’s most versatile and sought-after classical artists, performing worldwide as a soloist, conductor, and artistic director on both period and modern instruments, with repertoire ranging from early tocontemporary music.
In 2025/26 Altstaedt begins a three-year tenure as Tapiola Sinfonietta’s Artist in Association and makes début appearances with Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien (Adès), Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra(Martín), Hallé (Adès), Philharmonia Zurich (Chan), and Freiburger Barockorchester. Return engagements include Budapest Festival Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra (Chan), Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France (Jacquot), Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (Bihlmaier), Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra (Mälkki), Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra (Berglund), NAC Orchestra Ottawa (Shelley), Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, and Orchestre National de Lille (Weilerstein), among others. Further titled positions include the commencement of a two-season tenure as Artist in Collaboration with Orquesta Sinfónica del Principado de Asturias, and Artist in Residence at the 2026 Bodenseefestival, while chamber music highlights include tours of Australia and North America with lutenist Thomas Dunford – including an appearance at Carnegie Hall.
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Since Altstaedt’s critically acclaimed 2010 début with the Wiener Philharmoniker and Gustavo Dudamel, notable residencies and collaborations have included Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (Pintscher), Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks (Gardner), Budapest Festival Orchestra (Fischer), SWR Sinfonieorchester (Currentzis), Helsinki Festival (Salonen), Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin (Ticciati), Bamberger Symphoniker (Dausgaard), Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra (Shani), Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra (Herreweghe), London Philharmonic Orchestra (Gardner), Münchner Philharmoniker (Urbański), Swedish Radio Orchestra (Emelyanychev), European Union Youth Orchestra (Noseda and V Petrenko), all the BBC orchestras (including with Storgårds), Orchestre National de France (Măcelaru), NHK and Yomiuri Nippon (Yamada) symphony orchestras, Washington’s National Symphony Orchestra (Gardner), Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (Payare), NAC Orchestra Ottawa (Shelley), and Sydney and New Zealand Symphony Orchestras (Runnicles). As a conductor, Altstaedt has forged partnerships with Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Australian Chamber Orchestra, Münchener Kammerorchester (most recently as 2024/25 Artist in Focus), Tapiola Sinfonietta, Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Les Violons du Roy.
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 ÉsterházyPalace, succeeding Ádám Fischer. His chamber music partners include Janine Jansen, Vilde Frang, Pekka Kuusisto, Lawrence Power, Antoine Tamestit, Alexander Lonquich, Mao Fujita, Maxim Emelyanychev, Fazıl Say, Ilya Gringolts, Thomas Dunford, Jean Rondeau, Quatuor Ébène and Belcea Quartet. He makes regular appearances at major festivals including Salzburg, Verbier, Lucerne, Edinburgh, Prague Spring, Schleswig Holstein, and Musikfest Bremen.
Altstaedt frequently performs on period instruments with ensembles such as Il Giardino Armonico, B’Rock, Orchestre des Champs-Elysées, and Arcangelo, while joint appearances with composers such as Thomas Adès, Jörg Widmann, Thomas Larcher, Fazıl Say and Sofia Gubaidulina have consolidated his reputation as an outstanding interpreter of contemporary music. Wolfgang Rihm, Sebastian Fagerlund, Erkki-Sven Tüür, Marton Illés, Helena Winkelman, Malika Kishino and Raquel García-Tomás have all written works for him. 2025 also marks the release of Altstaedt’s recording of Liza Lim’s cello concerto A Sutured World. Composed for him and premiered with Symphonieorchesterdes Bayerischen Rundfunks (Gardner), it is described in a 5‑star review in Limelight as“destined to become a signature work of the cello repertoire”.
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.
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Ariane Levy-Künstler EOT Director | Director, Artist Management
worldwide general management
worldwide general management
“Cellist Nicolas Altstaedt’s fine sensory perception […] creates a permeable texture […], a sensitive and noble sound. At the same time, he has delved into the music, translating the composer’s ideas into a natural and convincing interpretation that makes it seem fresh and new and yet also relaxed, as if meeting an old friend again after a long time.”
“What a musician! His entire body […] breathes music every second.”
“Mercurial […] gripping and at times wrenching.”
“One of today’s finest exponents of the cello.”
“Outstanding […] an exceptional interpretation.”
“Messiaen’s sweeping and mystical “Quartet for the End of Time,” … was given one of the finest readings I’ve heard … the pianist Francesco Piemontesi and the cellist Nicolas Altstaedt, who played together with hypnotic and alluring restraint in the fifth movement … this account was masterly and meditatively played.”
“In this beautifully recorded release, the interpretations [of Beethoven’s Sonatas] by Altstaedt and Lonquich bristle with boldness, exploiting the revolutionary aspects of the music with relish. The performances are vivid and dramatic… Quite simply, the range of timbre, dynamics, and characterisation in these performances is phenomenal.”
“Nicolas Altstaedt’s take on Beethoven’s music for cello and piano is magical, proud, and glorious.”
“Altstaedt’s crisp, penetrating sound was arresting in the first movement of Debussy’s 1915 Cello Sonata … yet he brought a deftness of touch that lent his lines a graceful lyricism over the march of Madžar’s piano.”
“Nicolas Altstaedt is one of that elite group: here you would think he was a Baroque full-timer, his approach is so indefinably delicate, the phrasing of CPE Bach’s seductive lines limpid, the recitative hyper-articulate. The tawny warmth of his tone is perfectly attuned to the composer’s sound world; slow movements have an inward grace, while the fast are marked by vivid detail and natural effervescence.”
“Altstaedt’s feathery touches and hushed wisps that opened the concert were delicately placed and continued throughout these two [Beethoven Op.5 sonatas], with deftness in the upper registers alternating with forceful pounding of both cello and piano in the lower, and both finales taken at a healthy brisk pace with authority and plenty of rippling fluidity.”
“Nicolas Altstaedt is an ideal protagonist; no sentimental phrasing impedes the music’s dynamic thrust and the angry opening of [CPE Bach’s] A‑minor Concerto is gripping… Emotions are at their darkest in the Finale – displayed dramatically by Altstaedt whose presentation of the rapid staccato passages involves virtuosic skill.”
“Muscular playing, klezmerish swing. The two composers’ cello concertos make an impressive vehicle for rising cellist Nicolas Altstaedt”
“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.”
“Altstaedt displayed a consistently gorgeous tone and warmth of phrasing, particularly effective in the ghostly high line in the second movement [of Dutilleux’s Tout un monde lointain]”
“An absolute revelation. Nicolas Altstaedt, one of the cello realm’s most brilliant young princes.”