“That there is wonderful music throughout the score [of Schumann's Cello Concerto] was triumphantly reaffirmed last night by Dohnanyi, the NSO and soloist Gerhardt, who played with sumptuous tone and keen musicianship. Indeed, [Alban Gerhardt] is an artist after Dohnanyi's heart – tapered and immaculate, yet always songful…”

 

National Symphony Orchestra

WASHINGTON POST

 

 

 

 

Over the past decade, Alban Gerhardt  has established himself among the great cellists of our time.  His sound is unmistakable, and he draws audiences in with his combination of unerring musical instinct, intense emotionality and natural, riveting stage presence.   

After early competition successes and his debut with the Berlin Philharmonic, Mr. Gerhardt has now performed with more than 170 orchestras worldwide. North American appearances include the Cleveland Orchestra, The Philadelphia Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the symphonies of Boston, Chicago, Fort Worth, Houston, National (Washington, DC), New World/Miami, San Francisco and Toronto. Internationally, he has performed with the Bavarian Radio Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, BBC Symphony, Bergen Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, Birmingham Symphony, China Philharmonic, Danish National Radio Orchestra, Finnish and Helsinki radio orchestras, Gurzenich Orchestra/Cologne, Hallé Orchestra/Manchester, Hamburg Philharmonic, Leipzig Gewandhaus, London Philharmonia, London Philharmonic, Melbourne and Sydney symphonies, Netherlands Radio Orchestra, New Japan Philharmonic, NHK Symphony/Tokyo, Orchestre National de Bordeaux, Orchestre National de France, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Oslo Philharmonic, the Royal Concertgebouw/Amsterdam, Sydney Symphony, Vienna Symphony, Zurich Tonhalle, and the radio orchestras of Berlin, Frankfurt, Hamburg and Madrid. 

Alban Gerhardt’s collaborations with composers such as Brett Dean, Unsuk Chin, Osvaldo Golijov, Mathias Hinke, Matthias Pintscher, Peteris Vasks and Jörg Widmann demonstrate his strong interest in enlarging the cello repertoire. Following his sensational debut of Unsuk Chin’s new cello concerto at the BBC Proms in 2009, he also premiered it with the Boston Symphony, Gurzenich Orchestra/Cologne, Residentie Orkest in Amsterdam, and the philharmonic orchestras of Seoul and Tampere. He also relishes rescuing lesser-known works from undeserved obscurity.

An enthusiastic recitalist, Mr. Gerhardt plays regularly with colleagues such as Lisa Batiashvili, Thomas Larcher, Cecile Licad, Steven Osborne, Emmanuel Pahud, Arabella Steinbacher, Christian Tetzlaff, Lars Vogt and Tabea Zimmermann.  He appears frequently at international festivals and in many celebrated venues such as London’s Wigmore Hall, Berliner Philharmonie, Suntory Hall in Tokyo and the Châtelet in Paris. Among the conductors with whom he has collaborated are John Adams, Semyon Bychkov, James Conlon, Sir Colin Davis, Christoph von Dohnányi, Christoph Eschenbach, Hans Graf, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Marek Janowski, Paavo and Neeme Järvi, Fabio Luisi, Sir Neville Marriner, Kurt Masur, Andris Nelsons, Sakari Oramo, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Leonard Slatkin, Christian Thielemann, and Michael Tilson Thomas.

Also a highly acclaimed recording artist, Alban Gerhardt has won three ECHO Classic Awards, most recently for his all-Reger double CD (2009).  He records exclusively with Hyperion, spearheading their “Romantic Cello Concertos” series. Recent releases include a recital CD featuring sonatas by Chopin and Alkan with Steven Osborne and Prokofiev’s Sinfonia Concertante and Concerto in E minor with the Bergen Philharmonic under Andrew Litton.

An artist who thinks and lives “outside the box,” Mr. Gerhardt is passionately committed to finding news ways for both older and younger audiences to discover and experience classical music.  A recent project finds him playing Bach Cello Suites in supermarkets and other local venues prior to his performance with the city’s orchestra.  These excursions have brought great delight to those who happened upon them!

 

Born in Berlin to a musical family,  Alban Gerhardt’s ability on both cello and piano demonstrated extraordinary musical talent at a very early age. The teachers  to whom he feels most indebted include Boris Pergamenschikow, Markus Nyikos and Frans Helmerson.

 

 Mr. Gerhardt performs on a magnificent cello made by the legendary Matteo Gofriller.

 

www.albangerhardt.com

 

Biography

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