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.
Recent highlights include concerto debuts with Detroit Symphony and Helsinki Philharmonic and recital debuts at BOZAR Brussels, Carnegie Hall, Théâtre des Champs Elysées, Paris and Koerner Hall, Toronto and a tour through Australia.
As a conductor, he will debut with the SWR Stuttgart, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the Aurora, Zurich and Scottish Chamber Orchestras and l’Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne. During the 17/18 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 also the Artist in Spotlight at the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam.
Awarded the Credit Suisse Young Artist Award in 2010, he gave a critically praised performance of the Schumann Concerto with the Vienna Philharmonic under Gustavo Dudamel at the Lucerne Festival. Since then, he has performed worldwide with orchestras such as the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic, all BBC Orchestras, Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, Melbourne and New Zealand Symphony Orchestras with conductors including Sir Roger Norrington, Francois Xavier Roth, Sir Andrew Davis, Lahav Shani, Sir Neville Marriner, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Andrew Manze, Juraj Valcuha, Thomas Dausgaard, Giovanni Antonini and Andrea Marcon amongst others.
Nicolas’ recording of CPE Bach Concertos on Hyperion with Arcangelo and Jonathan Cohen received the BBC Music Magazine Concerto Award 2017. His latest recording – Four Cities – a recital programme of works by Say, Debussy, Shostakovich and Janacek with Fazil Say was released on Warner Classics to great acclaim and received the Edison Klassiek 2017. In 2018 Nicolas received the Musikpreis der Stadt Duisburg. Nicolas was a BBC New Generation Artist 2010-2012 and a recipient of the „Borletti Buitoni Trust Fellowship“ in 2009.