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, playing on period and modern instruments.

Season 2022/23 includes debuts with Budapest Festival Orchestra and Iván Fischer as well as on tour with the Seoul Philharmonic with Osmo Vänskä, Sydney and Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Staatskapelle Berlin, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Orchester National de Belgique, Kioi Chamber Orchestra Tokyo as well as returns to Il Giardino Armonico, New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, DSO Berlin, Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia and Münchener Kammerorchester amongst others. As a conductor, he will debut with Budapest Festival Orchestra, Warsaw Philharmonic and Kyoto Symphony Orchestra.

Since his highly acclaimed debut with the Wiener Philharmoniker and Gustavo Dudamel at the Lucerne Festival, he regularly performs with the most renowned orchestras around the world including the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Tonhalle-Orcester Zürich, London and Münchner Philharmoniker, NHK and Yomiuri symphony orchestras, Washington National Symphony and Detroit Symphony Orchestra, all BBC Orchestras, OPRF and ONF Paris and Rotterdam Philharmonic with conductors such as Esa-Pekka Salonen, Christoph Eschenbach, Sir Roger Norrington, Andrew Manze, François-Xavier Roth, Lahav Shani and Robin Ticciati.

He also regularly performs on period instruments with ensembles as Il Giardino Armonico, Orchestre des Champs-Elysées, Arcangelo, Academy of Ancient Music and conductors as René Jacobs, Phillippe Herreweghe, Andrea Marcon, Giovanni Antonini and Jonathan Cohen.

Nicolas Altstaedt was Artist in Focus at the Alte Oper in Frankfurt and Artist in Residence at the SWR Symphonieorchester with Teodor Currentzis in 2019/20. During the 2017/18 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 ‘Artist in Spotlight’ at the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam.

As a conductor, he works closely with Scottish Chamber Orchestra and conducted in recent seasons the SWR, OPRF Paris, OSI Lugano, Orchestra of 18th century, les Violins du Roy, Aurora, Münich and Zürich chamber orchestras. Joint appearances with composers such as Thomas Adès, Jörg Widmann, Thomas Larcher, Fazil Say and Sofia Gubaidulina also consolidate his reputation as an outstanding interpreter of contemporary music. Sebastian Fagerlund, Helena Winkelman, Anders Hillborg and Fazil Say, Wolfgang Rihm have recently written concertos and other works for Nicolas. New concertos by Marton Illés, Liza Lim and Erkki Sven Tüür are planned for the coming seasons.

In 2012, Nicolas Altstaedt succeeded Gidon Kremer as artistic director of the Lockenhaus Chamber Music Festival, and in 2014 he succeeded Ádám Fischer in this position at the Haydn Philharmonic at the Ésterházy Palace, with which he toured Japan and China in the last seasons.

As a chamber musician, Nicolas’ regular partners include Janine Jansen, Vilde Frang, Pekka Kuusisto, Lawrence Power, Antoine Tamestit, Alexander Lonquich, Jean Rondeau, Thomas Dunford and the Quatuor Ébène. He performs at both Salzburg Mozart and Summer Festival, Verbier, BBC Proms, Lucerne, Prague Spring Festival and Musikfest Bremen. 

He has received numerous prizes including the Beethoven ring Bonn 2015 and Musikpreis der Stadt Duisburg 2018. His most recent recording for his Lockenhaus Festival garnered the BBC Music Magazine 2020 Chamber Award and Grammophone Award 2020. He received the BBC Music Magazine Concerto Award 2017 for his recording of CPE Bach Concertos on Hyperion with Arcangelo and Jonathan Cohen and the Edison Klassiek 2017 for his Recital Recording with Fazil Say on Warner Classics. Nicolas is a recipient of the Credit Suisse Award in 2010 and was a BBC New Generation Artist 2010-2012.

Nicolas Altsteadt appears with support from Donald and Susan Best.