Nicolas Altstaedt
Cello
⟹ Germany, 1982
⟹ 5th x Cello Biënnale (2014, 2016, 2018, 2024 & 2026)
⟹ Plays a Guadagnini (Piacenza, 1749)
The French-German cellist Nicolas Altstaedt studied at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin with Boris Perkamentsikov, and later with Eberhard Feltz. Besides being a cellist, he is also a conductor as well as the artistic director of various festivals.
Altstaedt enjoys playing a great deal of contemporary music, including music by Thomas Adès, Fazil Say, Jörg Widmann, Matthias Pintscher, Sofia Gubaidulina, and Helena Winkelman. Concertos were written for him recently by Anders Hilborg, Márton Illés, Erkki-Sven Tüür. In 2024, he premiered the cello concerto ‘A Sutured World’ by Liza Lim at the Cello Biënnale. This piece was written for him on commission from the Cello Biënnale, among others, and received the prestigious Grawemeyer Award in 2026.
His interpretations and performances of Baroque and Classical music are unsurpassed, as a soloist in J.s. Bach’s solo suites as well as together with Lute player Thomas Dunford and harpsichordist Jean Rondeau. He also performs regularly with the ensemble Arcangelo, with which he has recorded the complete cello concertos by C.P.E. Bach and Boccherini. In 2025, Altstaedt and Arcangelo appeared in the Great Cellists series at the Muziekgebouw and the Cello Biënnale Amsterdam.
In 2018, Nicolas Altstaedt was the Artist in Spotlight at the Concertgebouw. He has been the artistic director of the Internationales Kammermusikfest Lockenhaus since 2012, succeeding Gidon Kremer, and became the Artist in Association at Tapiola Sinfonietta in 2025.
