Nicolas Altstaedt

NICOLAS ALTSTAEDT (1982) is one of the most versatile and sought‑after artists of his generation. As a soloist, conductor, and artistic director, he performs a repertoire spanning early to contemporary music on both period and modern instruments. Following Altstaedt’s critically acclaimed 2010 debut with the Vienna Philharmonic under Gustavo Dudamel at the Lucerne Festival, his residencies and collaborations have included leading orchestras and conductors worldwide: the Budapest Festival Orchestra (with Ádám Fischer), the SWR Symphony Orchestra Baden‑Baden and Freiburg, the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen (with Thomas Adès), the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Helsinki Festival (with Esa‑Pekka Salonen), the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Munich Philharmonic, the Deutsches Symphonie‑Orchester Berlin (with Robin Ticciati), the Konzerthausorchester Berlin (with Joana Mallwitz), the Philharmonia Orchestra (with Neeme Järvi), the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Bamberg Symphony, the Rotterdam Philharmonic (with Lahav Shani), the Tonhalle‑Orchester Zürich, the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra (with Maxim Emelyanychev), the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, the NHK Symphony Orchestra and Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra (with Kazuki Yamada), as well as the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra (with Donald Runnicles), and the Australian Chamber Orchestra. Altstaedt regularly performs on period instruments with ensembles such as Il Giardino Armonico under Giovanni Antonini, B’Rock Orchestra with René Jacobs, the Orchestre des Champs‑Élysées with Philippe Herreweghe, the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, and Arcangelo with Jonathan Cohen. As a conductor, he has established close partnerships with the Orchestre National de France, the Australian Chamber Orchestra, the Munich Chamber Orchestra (where he was recently named “Artist in Focus” for the 2024/25 season), and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. In 2025/26, Altstaedt begins a three‑year term as “Associate Artist” of the Tapiola Sinfonietta. His collaborations with composers such as Thomas Adès, Jörg Widmann, Fazıl Say, and Sofia Gubaidulina have further solidified his reputation as an exceptional interpreter of contemporary music. Wolfgang Rihm, Sebastian Fagerlund, Widmann, Márton Illés, Thomas Larcher, and Liza Lim have written works for him. Premieres of new concertos by Francesca Verunelli, Enno Poppe, and Miroslav Srnka are also forthcoming. In 2012, Altstaedt succeeded Gidon Kremer as Artistic Director of the Lockenhaus Chamber Music Festival, and from 2014 to 2021 he served as Artistic Director of the Haydn Philharmonic at Esterházy Palace, succeeding Ádám Fischer, with whom he also toured Japan and China. His chamber music partners include Janine Jansen, Alexander Lonkuich, Lawrence Power, Mao Fujita, Dénes Váronyi, Francesco Piemontesi, Maxim Emelyanichev, Thomas Dunford, Jean Rondeau, and the Eben and Belcha string quartets . He regularly performs at major festivals, including Salzburg, Verbier, the BBC Proms, Lucerne, Edinburgh, the Prague Spring, and Musikfest Bremen. His recording of *A Sutured World* (2024) follows several critically acclaimed albums, including a collection of chamber works by Veress and Bartók for “Alpha,” which won the “BBC Music Magazine” Chamber Music Award and the “Gramophone” Classical Music Award for 2020. Altstaedt received the 2017 BBC Music Magazine Award for his recording of Concertos by C. P. E. Bach with the Arcangelo ensemble under the baton of J. Cohen for “Hyperion” and the 2017 “AFAS Edison Klassiek” Award for his recital recording with Fazil Say for “Warner Classics.” Previous honors include the Credit Suisse Award (2010), the Beethoven Ring (2015), the Musikpreis der Stadt Duisburg (2018), and recognition as a BBC New Generation Artist for 2010–12. Nicolas Altstaedt was born in Heidelberg, Germany, to a family of German-French descent. He began playing the cello at age 6. He studied at the Detmold University of Music (with Marcio Carneiro) and at the Basel Music Academy (under Ivan Monigetti). He was one of Boris Pergamenschikov’s last students at the Hans Eisler School of Music in Berlin, later specializing under David Geringas and Eberhard Felz. He plays a cello made by Giulio Cesare Gigli in Rome around 1760.