Final Round

Leonard Elschenbroich (Frankfurt, 1985) was ten years old when he received a scholarship to study at the Yehudi Menuhin School in London. We went on to study with Frans Helmerson at the Hochschule für Musik Köln. Elschenbroich received the Leonard Bernstein Award at the opening of the Schleswig-Holstein Festival 2009, following his performance of Brahms’ Double Concerto with Anne-Sophie Mutter conducted by Christoph Eschenbach. He has since been praised as one of the most charismatic cellists of his generation. Elschenbroich has commissioned works by composers such as Mark-Anthony Turnage, Luca Lombardi, Arlene Sierra, and Suzanne Farrin. At the Proms in London, he gave the world premiere of Mark Simpson’s Cello Concerto, which was composed specially for him. Elschenbroich also gave the world premiere of Willem Jeths’ second Cello Concerto at the Cello Biënnale in 2022. In 2012, he co-founded the Orquesta Filarmonica de Bolivia, the first orchestra to perform a Mahler symphony in the country’s history. Elschenbroich regularly returns to Bolivia to lead educational projects and develop orchestras. This led Elschenbroich to start exploring conducting with various orchestras; for example, the Residentie Orchestra in 2021, which premiered a new cello concerto by Joël Bons under his baton, with Lidy Blijdorp as soloist. Leonard Elschenbroich plays the Matteo Goffriller 'Ex-Leonard Rose-Ex-Alfredo Piatti' cello (Venice, 1693), on private loan.

The Symphony Orchestra of the Conservatory of Amsterdam has played an important part at many editions of the Cello Biënnale. Under the baton of Tan Dun, the orchestra gave a historic performance of The Map, Tan Dun’s multimedia ‘cello concerto’. The orchestra also gave the world premiere of Richard Rijnvos’ Barbara Baccante, has given various Dutch premieres, and has performed with soloists such as Mischa Maisky, Nicolas Altstaedt, and Frans Helmerson. Additionally, the orchestra has accompanied the three finalists of the National Cello Competition numerous times. This year they will do the same: under Leonard Elschenbroich, the orchestra will perform Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations three times at the Final Round.