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 contemporary, playing on period and modern instruments.
Season 2023/24 includes tours with Australian Chamber Orchestra, Orchestre des Champs-Elysées with Philippe Herreweghe and Arcangelo with Jonathan Cohen. Altstaedt makes his debut with Bamberger Symphoniker, Philharmonia Orchestra, Orchestre symphonique de Montréal and NAC Orchestra, Ottawa, while re-invitations include London Philharmonic Orchestra with Ed Gardner, 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 Urbanski, European Union Youth Orchestra with Vasily Petrenko, all the BBC orchestras including with John Storgårds, Orchestre National de France with Cristian Măcelaru, NHK and Yomiuri Nippon (with Kazuki Yamada) symphony orchestras, Washington’s National Symphony Orchestra, and Sydney and New Zealand symphony orchestras.
Altstaedt regularly performs on period instruments with ensembles such as Il Giardino Armonico with Giovanni Antonini, B’Rock with René Jacobs, La Cetra with Andrea Marcon, Academy of Ancient Music, and Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century. As a conductor, he has forged close partnerships with Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Münchener Kammerorchester and Les Violons du Roy.
Joint appearances with composers such as Thomas Adès, Jörg Widmann, Thomas Larcher, Fazıl Say and Sofia Gubaidulina consolidate his reputation as an outstanding interpreter of contemporary music. Wolfgang Rihm, Sebastian Fagerlund and Helena Winkelman have recently written concertos and other works for him. New concertos by Marton Illés and Erkki-Sven Tüür receive their premieres this season and by Liza Lim in 2024/25.
In 2012, Altstaedt succeeded Gidon Kremer as Artistic Director of the Lockenhaus Chamber Music Festival, and from 2014 to 2021 he succeeded Ádám Fischer in this position at the Haydn Philharmonie at the Ésterházy Palace touring with the orchestra to Japan and China in recent seasons.
As a chamber musician, Altstaedt’s partners include Janine Jansen, Vilde Frang, Pekka Kuusisto, Lawrence Power, Antoine Tamestit, Alexander Lonquich, Mao Fujita, Jean Rondeau, Thomas Dunford, Quatuor Ébène and Belcea Quartet. He performs at both Salzburg Mozart and Summer festivals, Verbier Festival, BBC Proms, Lucerne Festival, Prague Spring Festival and Musikfest Bremen.
His most recent recording for his Lockenhaus Festival garnered the BBC Music Magazine 2020 Chamber Award and Gramophone Classical Music 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 AFAS Edison Klassiek 2017 for his recital recording with Fazıl Say on Warner Classics.
Altstaedt is a recipient of the Credit Suisse Award in 2010, Beethovenring Bonn 2015, Musikpreis der Stadt Duisburg 2018 and was a 2010–12 BBC New Generation Artist.
