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, playing on period and modern instruments.
2024/2025 highlights include débuts with Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, as well as returns to the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, WDR Sinfonieorchester, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Philharmonia Orchestra, Gulbenkian Orchestra, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and Hong Kong Sinfonietta, working with conductors such as Edward Gardner, Joana Mallwitz, Paavo Järvi, Hannu Lintu and Christoph Poppen, among others. Altstaedt has also been collaborating with the Munich Chamber Orchestra throughout the season as Artist in Focus, and makes his début at the Grand Teton Music Festival under Donald Runnicles in summer 2025.
Since his highly acclaimed début with the Vienna Philharmonic and Gustavo Dudamel at the Lucerne Festival, Altstaedt’s 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, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin with Robin Ticciati, Bamberg Symphony with Thomas Dausgaard, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra with Lahav Shani, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra with Philippe Herreweghe, London Philharmonic Orchestra with Gardner, Munich Philharmonic with Krzysztof Urbański, European Union Youth Orchestra with Gianandrea Noseda and Vasily Petrenko, all the BBC orchestras including with John Storgårds, Orchestre National de France with Cristian Măcelaru, NHK Symphony Orchestra, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra with Kazuki Yamada, Washington’s National Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal with Rafael Payare, Ottawa’s National Arts Centre Orchestra with Alexander Shelley, Sydney and New Zealand symphony orchestras with Runnicles, and Australian Chamber Orchestra.
Altstaedt regularly performs on period instruments with ensembles such as Il Giardino Armonico with Giovanni Antonini, B’Rock Orchestra with René Jacobs, Orchestre des Champs-Elysées with Herreweghe, and Arcangelo with Jonathan Cohen. As a conductor, he has forged close partnerships with Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Munich Chamber Orchestra, Tapiola Sinfonietta, Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Les Violons du Roy.
Joint appearances with composers such as Thomas Adès, Jörg Widmann, Thomas Larcher, Fazıl Say and Sofia Gubaidulina have consolidated Altstaedt’s reputation as an outstanding interpreter of contemporary music. Wolfgang Rihm, Sebastian Fagerlund, Erkki-Sven Tüür, Márton Illés and Helena Winkelman have recently written concertos and other works for him. Premières in the 2024/2025 season include new concertos by Liza Lim and Malika Kishino, as well as a new work for cello and choir by Raquel García-Tomás.
In 2012, Altstaedt succeeded Gidon Kremer as Artistic Director of the Lockenhaus Chamber Music Festival, and from 2014-2021 he succeeded Ádám Fischer in the same position at the Haydn Philharmonie at Esterházy Palace, touring with the orchestra to Japan and China in recent seasons. As a chamber musician, his partners include Janine Jansen, Vilde Frang, Pekka Kuusisto, Lawrence Power, Antoine Tamestit, Alexander Lonquich, Mao Fujita, Maxim Emelyanychev, Fazıl Say, Jean Rondeau, Thomas Dunford, Quatuor Ébène and Belcea Quartet. He performs at the Salzburg Festival, Verbier Festival, BBC Proms, Lucerne Festival, Edinburgh International Festival, Prague Spring International Music Festival and Musikfest Bremen.
Altstaedt’s recording for his Lockenhaus Festival garnered the BBC Music Magazine Chamber Award and Gramophone Classical Music Chamber Award in 2020. He received the BBC Music Magazine Concerto Award in 2017 for his recording of C P E Bach’s concertos on Hyperion with Arcangelo and Jonathan Cohen, and the AFAS Edison Klassiek Award in the same year for his recital recording with Fazıl Say on Warner Classics. Altstaedt is a recipient of the Credit Suisse Award in 2010, Beethoven-Ring Bonn in 2015 and Musikpreis der Stadt Duisburg in 2018, and was a BBC New Generation Artist in 2010-2012.
