Over the past decade, Alban Gerhardt has established himself among the greatest cellists of our time. His sound is unmistakable and his interpretations of the repertoire are distinguished in their originality. The cello starts to sing under his hands; standard works are newly discovered and unknown pieces are brought to life again. Gerhardt fascinates his growing audiences with the combination of an unerring musical instinct, intense emotionality and a very natural, arresting stage presence. Of particular concern for him is his desire to help audiences break with old listening and concert habits and to open classical music to a younger audience.
After early success at competitions and his debut with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra under Semyon Bychkov, Gerhardt has since performed with more than 170 different orchestras worldwide under conductors such as Kurt Masur, Christoph von Dohnányi, Christoph Eschenbach, Sir Neville Marriner, Marek Janowski, Sir Colin Davis, Leonard Slatkin, Michal Tilson-Thomas, Fabio Luisi, Sakari Oramo, Paavo Järvi, Neeme Järvi, Christian Thielemann, Esa-Pekka Salonen and Andris Nelsons.
Highlights of Gerhardt’s recent seasons included tours of Australasia, concerts in the Far East and performances with the Berlin Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw Orkest, Czech Philharmonic, Oslo Philharmonic, Finnish Radio Symphony, BBC Symphony, Leipzig Gewandhaus, Orchestra de la Suisse Romande, RTVE Madrid, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Bavarian Radio Symphony, Danish Radio, Gurzenich Orchester, NDR Symphony, Philharmonia, Vienna Symphony, Orchestre National de France and Zurich Tonhalle.
Highlights of the 2010/11 season include performances with the NHK Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Hallé, Orchestre National de Bordeaux, BBC Philharmonic, Sydney Symphony, London Philharmonic and the Rundfunk Sinfonie-Orchester Berlin. He will perform the Unsuk Chin Cello Concerto in Amsterdam (Residentie Orkest), Cologne (Gurzenich Orchester), with the Seoul Philharmonic, Tampere Philharmonic and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. The concerto was written for him and premiered at the Proms in 2009 to great acclaim.
Alban Gerhardt‘s repertoire includes almost 60 different cello concerti, and he relishes rescuing lesser-known works from undeserved obscurity. His collaborations with composers such as Unsuk Chin, Peteris Vasks, Brett Dean, Jörg Widmann, Osvaldo Golijov, Mathias Hinke and Matthias Pintscher demonstrate his strong interest in enlarging the cello repertoire. As well as his intensive solo career, chamber music plays an important role in Gerhardt’s life. He is a frequent performer at international festivals such as the BBC Proms in London (6 times) and the Edinburgh Festival, and at the Wigmore Hall, Berlin Philharmonie, Suntory Hall Tokyo and the Chatelet in Paris. Gerhardt’s regular chamber partners include Steven Osborne, Cecile Licad, Lars Vogt, Christian Tetzlaff, Lisa Batiashvili, Arabella Steinbacher, Tabea Zimmermann, Thomas Larcher and Emmanuel Pahud.
Gerhardt is also a highly acclaimed recording artist, and has won three ECHO ClassicAwards 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 Sinfonia Concertante and Concerto in E minor Op 58 with the Bergen Philharmonic/Litton.
Gerhardt now plays a unique instrument from the renowned maker Matteo Gofriller. He write about his traveling and performing experiences in his blog, which can be accessed from his webpage: www.albangerhardt.com.
2010/2011
Version Française
