Nicolas Altstaedt

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.

From a young age, Daniël Kramer received lesson from Ton Hartsuiker. He went on to study at the Conservatory of Amsterdam with Håkon Austbø, where he received his Master’s degree with distinction. He also received lessons from Rudolf Jansen, Willem Brons, Murray Perahia, and Claude Helffer, among others. He won prizes at the Prinses Christina Concours in 1994,  Concorso Seghizzi in 2008, and the Concours Olivier Messiaen in Paris in 2007.  His performances as a soloist include concerts with the Residentie Orchestra of The Hague, the Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic conducted by Peter Eötvös, the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra conducted by Werner Herbers, and the Netherlands Youth Orchestra conducted by Reinbert de Leeuw. He has collaborated with various composers, such as George Benjamin, Louis Andriessen, Toshio Hosokawa, and Sofia Gubaidulina, and has premiered numerous contemporary works.  Daniël Kramer is the principal accompanist of the National Cello Competition and has given many concerts with laureates. He recently collaborated with Eline Hensels, the winner of the competition in 2018, to record a CD which was recently nominated for an Edison.

Piano