This Franco-German cellist is one of the most versatile artists of our time. As soloist, conductor and artistic director, he has a broad repertoire that he performs with ensembles and orchestras of international standing. His acclaimed debut with the Gustavo Dudamel and the Wiener Philharmoniker was followed by further collaborations, including with Iván Fischer and the Budapest Festival Orchestra, the SWR Sinfonie Orchester Baden-Baden and Freiburg with Teodor Currentzis, with Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Helsinki Festival Orchestra and with Krzysztof Urbanski and the Münchner Philharmoniker, to name but a few. In the 2023/24 season, this cellist will undertake several tours, including with Philippe Herreweghe and the Orchestre des Champs-Elysées. Altstaedt will also make his debut with the Bamberg Symphoniker and will once again be a guest with the London Philharmonic Orchestra under Ed Gardner.

Nicolas Altstaedt is recognised as an outstanding interpreter of contemporary music. This season and next, he will be performing new concertos by Marton Illés, Erkki-Sven Tüür and Liza Lim. This sought-after cellist also works as a chamber musician with renowned partners, including Janine Jansen, Vilde Frang, Pekka Kuusisto and many others. Altstaedt has been Artistic Director of the Lockenhaus Chamber Music Festival since succeeding Gidon Kremer in 2012. From 2014 to 2021, he also held this position with the Haydn Philharmonie at Ésterházy Palace, with whom he has recently travelled to Japan and China. Nicolas Altstaedt’s most recent recording for the Lockenhaus Festival was honoured with the BBC Music Magazine 2020 Chamber Award and the Gramophone Classical Music Award 2020.

Born in London in 1971, Thomas Adès is considered one of today’s most important contemporary composers. In addition, this musician is also well known as a pianist and conductor, performing regularly with leading orchestras, opera ensembles and festivals right across the world. Among his works feature several operas; ›The Exterminating Angel‹ which was premiered at the Salzburg Festival in 2016, at the Metropolitan Opera in New York and again at the Royal Opera House in London with Adès on the conductor’s podium, ›The Tempest‹ and the Chamber Opera ›Powder Her Face‹ – which Adès composed aged only 24. His orchestral works include ›Asyla‹, ›Tevot‹ and his violin concerto ›Concentric Paths‹ – with performances in Carnegie Hall, at the Festspiele Berlin and the BBC Proms – as well as numerous celebrated chamber and solo pieces.

As a conductor, Thomas Adès appears regularly with great international orchestras such as Los Angeles, Helsinki and the London Philharmonic Orchestras, The Gewandhaus Orchestra and the Concertgebouworkest, with whom Thomas Adès is Artist in Residence 2019/20. Among his numerous awards include the Grawemeyer Award, the Royal Philharmonic Society Composition Prize, the Diapason D’Or of the year, the Echo Klassik as well as the Gramophone Award for his CD recording of ›The Tempest‹ from The Royal Opera House. This versatile musician is also winner of a Grammy Award and was awarded the prestigious Léonie Sonning Music Prize in 2015.