Nicolas Altstaedt, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra & Hannu Lintu
Biography Nicolas Altstaedt, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra & Hannu Lintu
Nicolas Altstaedt
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.
This season he is Artist in Residence at the SWR Symphonie Orchestra under Teodor Currentzis and Artist in Fokus at Alte Oper Frankfurt. Other highlights include a tour with B’Rock and René Jacobs, debuts with the National Symphony Orchestra Washington and Ed Gardner and the NHK and Yomiuri Symphony at Suntory Hall.
Recent highlights include a residency at the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester, debuts with European Youth Orchestra with Vasily Petrenko, Orchestre National de France with Emmanuel Krivine, Il Giardino Armonico at Grafenegg Festival, KBS Symphony Orchestra, Les Violons du Roy, Netherland Philharmonic and Radio Philharmonic with Edo de Waart at Het Concertgebouw and reinvitations to the DSO Berlin with Robin Ticciati, Rotterdam Philharmonic with Lahav Shani, the BBC Symphony at the Proms and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra with the world premiere of Sebastian Fagerlund’s Cello Concerto; recital debuts at BOZAR Brussels, Carnegie Hall, Théâtre des Champs Elysées, Paris and Koerner Hall, Toronto and a tour through Australia.
As a conductor, he regularly works with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and will debut at the SWR Stuttgart, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and the Orquesta Nacional de Espana. During the 17/18 season, Nicolas gave the highly acclaimed Finnish Premiere of Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Cello Concerto under the baton of the composer at the Helsinki Festival and was also the Artist in Spotlight at the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam.
Awarded the Credit Suisse Young Artist Award in 2010, he gave a critically praised performance of the Schumann Concerto with the Vienna Philharmonic under Gustavo Dudamel at the Lucerne Festival. Since then, he has performed worldwide with orchestras such as the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic, all BBC Orchestras, Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, Melbourne and New Zealand Symphony Orchestras with conductors including Sir Roger Norrington, Francois Xavier Roth, Sir Andrew Davis, Lahav Shani, Sir Neville Marriner, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Christoph Eschenbach Andrew Manze, Thomas Dausgaard, Thomas Hengelbrock, Giovanni Antonini and Andrea Marcon amongst others.
In 2012, Nicolas was chosen by Gidon Kremer to succeed him as the new artistic director of the Lockenhaus Chamber Music Festival and in 2014 by Ádám Fischer to become the new Artistic Director of the Haydn Philharmonie whom he regularly performs with at the Vienna Konzerthaus, Esterházy Festival and recently on tour in both China and Japan. Nicolas is Artistic Director of the Pfingstfestspiele Ittingen 2019 and 2023.
As a chamber musician, Nicolas partners include Janine Jansen, Vilde Frang, Christian Tetzlaff, Pekka Kuusisto, Tabea Zimmermann, Lawrence Power, Antoine Tamestit, Martin Fröst, Alexander Lonquich, Jonathan Cohen, Jean Rondeau and the Quatuor Ébène. He performs at both Salzburg Mozart and Summer Festival, Verbier, Utrecht, BBC Proms, Lucerne, Musikfest Bremen, Schleswig-Holstein and Rheingau. Nicolas has performed and worked with composers Thomas Ades, Jörg Widmann, Wolfgang Rihm, Thomas Larcher, Fazil Say and Sofia Gubaidulina and recently commissioned concertos by Anders Hillborg, Helena Winkelman and Fazil Say.
Nicolas’ recording of CPE Bach Concertos on Hyperion with Arcangelo and Jonathan Cohen received the BBC Music Magazine Concerto Award 2017. “Four Cities”, a recital programme of works by Say, Debussy, Shostakovich and Janacek with Fazil Say was released on Warner Classics to great acclaim and received the Edison Klassiek 2017. His latest recording includes the Complete Works for Fortepiano and Violoncello by Beethoven with Alexander Lonquich on historic instruments released on Alpha Classics.
Nicolas received the Beethovenring Bonn 2015 and Musikpreis der Stadt Duisburg 2018. Nicolas was a BBC New Generation Artist 2010-2012 and a recipient of the „Borletti Buitoni Trust Fellowship“ in 2009.
