About

The world-renowned cello virtuoso Nicholas Altstaedt is coming to Vilnius. On 29 October, the cello star, representing Germany and France, will share the stage of the Lithuanian National Philharmonic Concert Hall with the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Modestas Pitrėnas. “What made his reading special was the directness of his communication. Such was the purity and warmth of his tone, and so impeccable his rhythmic nuance, that one hung on every note as if they were the words of a master storyteller,” wrote The Australian about the cellist.

Altstaedt’s stunning career began in 2010 when he made his debut at the Lucerne Festival with the legendary Wiener Philharmoniker conducted by Gustavo Dudamel. Altstaedt regularly collaborates with orchestras such as the Münchner Philharmoniker conducted by Krzysztof Urbański, the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Lahav Shani, the Budapest Festival Orchestra conducted by Iván Fischer, all the BBC Orchestras, the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Tonhalle-Orchester Zurich, the Orchestre National de France, and many others. At the Helsinki Festival, the cellist played under the baton of the renowned Esa-Pekka Salonen. One of Altstaedt’s cello teachers was David Geringas.

Today, Altstaedt is one of the most sought-after artists in the world’s major concert halls. His repertoire ranges from early to contemporary music; he performs on both period and modern instruments. This season Altstaedt has appeared with the London Philharmonic, Orchestre des Champs-Elysées conducted by Philippe Herreweghe, the Australian Chamber Orchestra, Orchestre symphonique de Montréal and Bamberger Symphoniker, the Arcangelo period performance ensemble under Jonathan Cohen and other renowned ensembles.

Altstaedt’s love of early music is reflected in his concerts with Il Giardino Armonico (conducted by Giovanni Antonini), B’Rock (conducted by René Jacobs), Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century and others. Altstaedt has also graced the conductor’s podium, led festivals – he succeeded Gidon Kremer as director of the Lockenhaus Chamber Music Festival in 2012, and, as successor to the renowned Ádám Fischer, he was the conductor of the Joseph Haydn Philharmonic Orchestra at the Esterházy Palace in 2014–2021.

The cello virtuoso has performed at the Salzburg Festival and Verbier Festival, the BBC Proms and elsewhere. He has also won awards for his sound recordings: a CD recorded at the Lockenhaus Festival in 2020 garnered BBC Music Magazine and Gramophone Classical Music Awards. Altstaedt and Arcangelo’s recording of Johann Sebastian Bach’s concertos, released by Hyperion Records, won the 2017 BBC Music Magazine Concerto Award in the concerto category. Warner Classics’ release, which he recorded with the renowned pianist Fazil Say, who performed in Vilnius last year, won the AFAS Edison Klassiek award the same year.

Altstaedt is an active and compelling performer of contemporary music. He has been the dedicatee of works by such prominent contemporary composers as Thomas Adès, Fazil Say, Sofia Gubaidulina, Wolfgang Rihm, Erkki-Sven Tüür and others. In Vilnius, Altstaedt will perform E.-P. Salonen’s Concerto for cello and orchestra. Written in 2017 for the renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma, the work was premiered by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under the baton of E.-P. Salonen himself.

More information: Vilniaus festivaliai

Concert organised by PI “Vilniaus festivaliai”, the Lithuanian National Philharmonic Society