Julian Steckel
In 2010, Julian Steckel played his way to first prize in the ARD International Music Competition clarifying once and for all that a promising career lie ahead. He also garnered the Audience Award, the Oehms Classic award as well as the prize of the Münchner Kammerorchester. His list of prizes is a long one: prior to receiving the above accolades, he won prizes at the Grand Prix Rostropowitsch in Paris, the Grand Prix Feuermann in Berlin and Pablo Casal’s Competition in Kronberg. In 2012, Julian Steckel was awarded the much coveted ECHO Klassik for his recording of the cello concertos of Korngold, Goldschmidt and Bloch’s “Schelomo” with AVI music alongside the Rheinische Philharmonie Koblenz under Daniel Raiskin.

Today, Julian Steckel’s continues to play as authentically as ever with a focus on performing with major orchestras throughout Europe including the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, the Radio Symphony Orchestras Berlin, Stuttgart, Saarbrücken, Copenhagen and Warsaw, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra London, the Orchestre de Paris, the Kremerata Baltica, the Saint Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, the Franz-Liszt Kammerorchester Budapest and the Zurich, Stuttgart and Vienna Chamber Orchestras. He has partnered with conductors Sir Roger Norrington, Valery Gergiev, Gustavo Gimeno, Mario Venzago, Christopher Hogwood, Kazuki Yamada, Heinrich Schiff, Andrey Boreyko, John Storgårds, Daniel Raiskin, Andrew Litton, Lan Shui and Michael Sanderling.

In addition to his work as a soloist, Julian Steckel also dedicates his time to chamber music. In numerous concerts, he can be heard alongside musicians such as Janine Jansen, Christian Tetzlaff, Antje Weithaas, Veronika Eberle, Menahem Pressler, Vilde Frang, Lars Vogt and Alexander Lonquich. A number of the foremost chamber music ensembles also value collaborating with the talented cellist including, among others, the Quatuor Ebène and the Armida and Modigliani Quartets, with whom Julian Steckel performed at major festivals such as “Spannungen” Heimbach, Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Ludwigsburg, Moritzburg, Bonn, Schwetzingen, Zermatt, Mondsee and Lucerne.

Partnered with pianist Paul Rivinius, Julian Steckel has released a number of recordings to much critical acclaim. His latest CD of all C.P.E. Bach cello concertos together with the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra has been released in March 2016.

In the current season Julian Steckel is artist in residence with the Heidelberg Philharmonic Orchestra, making his debuts with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the Rotterdam Philharmonic, the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig and the Philharmonic State Orchestra Hamburg, performing the premiere of a new cello concerto by Alina Sadikova, following his reappearance in Musikverein and Konzerthaus Vienna and is furthermore giving concerts in Paris, Amsterdam, Lille, Istanbul, Brüssel, Prague, Auckland and in his home town Pirmasens.

Julian Steckel studied with Ulrich Voss, Gustav Rivinius, Boris Pergamenschikow, Heinrich Schiff and Antje Weithaas. Since 2011, he is professor of cello at the Rostock University of Music and Drama. He plays an Urs W. Mächler cello (2005), and in his free time enjoys living in Berlin.