Julian Steckel

At least since winning the first prize of the 59th International ARD Music Competition in Munich and also awarded with the prize of the audience, the Munich Chamber Orchestra Prize and the Oehms Classics Prize, Julian Steckel is among the most eagerly sought and versatile cellists.

After many years with Ulrich Voss, Julian Steckel has studied with Gustav Rivinius, as one of the last students with Boris Pergamenschikow, with Heinrich Schiff and Antje Weithaas.

Before winning the ARD Competition, he has been prize winner at the Rostropovitch Competition in Paris, the Grand Prix Feuermann in Berlin and the International Pablo Casals Competition in Kronberg and has also been awarded the Verbier Festival Prize and the Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship Award in London.

He has given concerts as a soloist with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Radio Symphony Orchestras of Berlin, Stuttgart, Saarbrucken, Copenhagen and Warsaw, the Orchestre de Paris, the Kremerata Baltica, the Franz-Liszt Chamber Orchestra of Budapest and the Zurich and Stuttgart chamber orchestras, under such conductors as Sir Roger Norrington, Mario Venzago, Christopher Hogwood, Heinrich Schiff, Andrey Boreyko, Michael Sanderling and John Storgards.

These appearances have taken him to both the Philharmonie and the Konzerthaus in Berlin, the Herkulessaal and the Philharmonie im Gasteig in Munich, the Laieszhalle Hamburg, the Salle Pleyel and the Théâtre du Chatelet Paris, the Tonhalle Zurich, the KKL Lucerne and the Seoul Arts Center.

As a chamber musician he has performed with Lars Vogt, Christian Tetzlaff, Antje Weithaas, Isabelle Faust, Baiba and Lauma Skride and Alexander Lonquich as well as with the Ebène, Vogler and Guarneri quartets, at such festivals as the “Spannungen” Festival Heimbach, and the Lucerne, Ludwigsburg, Bonn, Schwetzingen, Zermatt, Mondsee, Cambrai and Menton festivals.

His recording of the cello concertos by Goldschmidt and Korngold, as well as Bloch’s “Schelomo”, together with Rheinische Philharmonic Orchestra Koblenz/Daniel Raiskin released in 2011 at the label AVI Music, has received unanimous praise from the international music press.

The previous successful album (2009) including all Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy’s works for cello and piano with his regular duopartner Paul Rivinius, is now followed in September 2011 by a CD with works by French composers.

The season 11/12 includes performances at the Tonhalle Zurich, at the Herkulessaal and Gasteig in Munich, at the Rudolphinum Prague, at Konzerthaus Vienna, at Laeiszhalle Hamburg, at Konzerthaus Berlin and the Philharmonie Essen as well as with the German Radio Philharmonic Orchestra Saarbrücken Kaiserslautern, the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, the St.Petersburg Symphonic Orchestra, the Philharmonic Orchestra Belgrad among others.

Steckel has recently been appointed Professor of Cello at the University of Music and Theatre Rostock.