BIOGRAPHY

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.

Season 2023/24 includes tours with Australian Chamber Orchestra, Orchestre des Champs-Elysées with Philippe Herreweghe, EUYO with Gianandrea Noseda and Arcangelo with Jonathan Cohen. Altstaedt makes his debut with Bamberger Symphoniker, Philharmonia Orchestra, Orchestre symphonique de Montréal with Rafael Payare and NAC Orchestra Ottawa with Alexander Shelley, Bergen Philharmonic while re-invitations include London Philharmonic Orchestra with Ed Gardner, OPRF Paris, Tapiola Sinfonietta amongst others. 

Since his highly acclaimed debut with Wiener Philharmoniker and Gustavo Dudamel at the Lucerne Festival, recent notable residencies and collaborations include Budapest Festival Orchestra with Iván Fischer, SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg with Teodor Currentzis, Helsinki Festival with Esa-Pekka Salonen, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin with Robin Ticciati, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra with Lahav Shani, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra with Philippe Herreweghe, Münchner Philharmoniker with Krzysztof Urbánski, European Union Youth Orchestra with Vasily Petrenko, Seoul Philharmonic and Osmo Vänskä, all the BBC Orchestras including with John Storgårds, Orchestre National de France with Cristian Măcelaru, NHK and Yomiuri Nippon symphony orchestras, Washington’s National and Seattle Symphony Orchestra, and Sydney and New Zealand symphony orchestras. 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.

As a conductor, he works closely with the Scottish and Munich Chamber Orchestras and the OPRF Paris. He conducted in recent seasons the Budapest Festival Orchestra, SWR, OSI Lugano, Warsaw Philharmonic, Kyoto Symphony, Orchestra of 18th century, les Violins du Roy, Aurora and Zurich chamber orchestras. 

In 2012, Nicolas was chosen by Gidon Kremer to succeed him as the new artistic director of the Lockenhaus Chamber Music Festival and in 2015 by Ádám Fischer to become the new Artistic Director of the Haydn Philharmonie until 2022, within whom he regularly performed with at the Vienna Konzerthaus, Esterházy Festival and recently on tour in both China and Japan. Nicolas was Artistic Director of the Pfingstfestspiele Ittingen 2019 and 2023.

As a chamber musician, Nicolas partners include Janine Jansen, Vilde Frang, Christian Tetzlaff, Pekka Kuusisto, Barnabás Kelemen, Joshua Bell, Ilya Gringolts, Tabea Zimmermann, Lawrence Power, Antoine Tamestit, Martin Fröst, Alexander Lonquich, Jonathan Cohen, Jean Rondeau, Thomas Dunford, and the Quatuor Ébène. He performs at both Salzburg Mozart and Summer Festival, Verbier, Utrecht, BBC Proms, Lucerne, Musikfest Bremen, Schleswig-Holstein and Rheingau. 

Joint appearances with composers such as Thomas Adès, Jörg Widmann, Wolfgang Rihm, 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 have recently written concertos for Nicolas. New Concertos by Erkki-Sven Tüür, Liza Lim and Márton Illés will be premiered in 23/24,

His most recent recordings 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 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.

2023/2024 Season. Not to be altered without permission.