BIOGRAPHY

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.

Since his highly acclaimed debut with Wiener Philharmoniker and Gustavo Dudamel at the Lucerne Festival, recent notable residencies and collaborations include Budapest Festival Orchestra with Iván Fischer, SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg with Teodor Currentzis, Helsinki Festival with Esa-Pekka Salonen, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie with Thomas Adès, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks und Münchener Philharmoniker, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin with Robin Ticciati and Konzerthausorchester with Johanna Mallwitz, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra with Lahav Shani, London Philharmonic and Philharmonia Orchestra with Paavo Järvi, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra with Maxim Emelyanychev, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra with Philippe Herreweghe, European Union Youth Orchestra with Gianandrea Noseda and Vasily Petrenko, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Seoul Philharmonic and Osmo Vänskä, all the BBC Orchestras including with John Storgårds, Orchestre National de France with Cristian Măcelaru, NHK and Yomiuri Nippon symphony orchestras wit Kazuki Yamada, Washington’s National, Detroit and Seattle Symphony Orchestra, and Sydney and New Zealand Symphony orchestras with Donald Runnicles and the Australian Chamber Orchestra. He also regularly performs on period instruments with ensembles as Il Giardino Armonico, Orchestre des Champs-Elysées, B’Rock, Arcangelo, Academy of Ancient Music, Freiburger Barockorchester, Orchestra of 18th century and conductors as René Jacobs, Phillippe Herreweghe, Andrea Marcon, Giovanni Antonini and Jonathan Cohen.

As a conductor he has forged close partnerships with Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Münchener Kammerorchester and Scottish Chamber Orchestra and begins this season his tenure as Artist in Association with Tapiola Sinfonietta.

As a chamber musician, Nicolas partners include Janine Jansen, Lawrence Power, Maxim Emelyanychev, Jean Rondeau, Thomas Dunford, and the Quatuor Ébène. He regularly performs at both Salzburg Mozart and Summer festivals, Verbier Festival, BBC Proms, Lucerne Festival, Edinburgh International Festival, Prague Spring Festival and Musikfest Bremen. 

Joint appearances with composers such as Thomas Adès, Jörg Widmann, Fazıl Say and Sofia Gubaidulina consolidate his reputation as an outstanding interpreter of contemporary music. Wolfgang Rihm, Sebastian Fagerlund, Jörg Widmann, Marton Illés, Thomas Larcher have recently written concertos and other works for him. New concertos by Francesca Verunelli, Enno Poppe and Miroslav Srnka receive their premieres in the coming seasons. Liza Lim’s cello concerto A Sutured World has been composed for him in 2024 and been described to be destined to become a signature work of the cello repertoire. ( Limelight magazine )

In 2012, Nicolas was chosen by Gidon Kremer to succeed him as the new artistic director of the Lockenhaus Chamber Music Festival and in 2015 by Ádám Fischer to become the new Artistic Director of the Haydn Philharmonie until 2022, within whom he regularly performed with at the Vienna Konzerthaus, Esterházy Festival and recently on tour in both China and Japan. Nicolas was Artistic Director of the Pfingstfestspiele Ittingen 2019 and 2023.

His most recent recordings for his Lockenhaus Festival garnered the BBC Music Magazine 2020 Chamber Award and Grammophone Award 2020. He received the BBC Music Magazine Concerto Award 2017 for his recording of CPE Bach Concertos on Hyperion with Arcangelo and Jonathan Cohen and the Edison Klassiek 2017 for his Recital Recording with Fazil Say on Warner Classics.

Altstaedt is a recipient of the Credit Suisse Award in 2010, Beethovenring Bonn 2015, Musikpreis der Stadt Duisburg 2018 and was a 2010–12 BBC New Generation Artist.

2025/2026 Season. Not to be altered without permission.