Alban Gerhardt (born 25 May 1969, Berlin) is a German cellist. From a musical family, Gerhardt is the son of a mother who sang coloratura soprano, and his father, Axel Gerhardt, was a second violinist of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra for over 40 years. His brother Darius is a guitarist. Gerhardt took up both the piano and the cello at age eight, and studied with Marion Vetter and Götz Teutsch of the Berlin Philharmonic, and eventually began working under Markus Nyikos. Gerhardt has also been a pupil of Boris Pergamenschikov. Gerhardt's first public performance came on 22 February 1987, when he played Haydn's Cello Concerto No.2 in D with a chamber orchestra in the Berliner Philharmonie. His international career was launched in 1991 when he made his debut with the Berlin Philharmonic and Semyon Bychkov. He won top prizes in several competitions in the early 1990s, including the 1990 Deutsche Musikwettbewerb Bonn, the

ARD Competition The ARD International Music Competition (german: link=no, Internationaler Musikwettbewerb der ARD) is the largest international classical music competition in Germany. It is organised by the Bayerischer Rundfunk and held once a year in Munich. Si ...

that same year, and the Leonard Rose Competition in 1993. Gerhardt was a member of the BBC New Generation Artists scheme from 1999 to 2001. At the 2009

BBC Proms The BBC Proms or Proms, formally named the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts Presented by the BBC, is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hal ...

, he performed the world premiere of

Unsuk Chin Unsuk Chin ( ko, 진은숙 ; born July 14, 1961) is a South Korean composer of contemporary classical music, who is based in Berlin, Germany. Chin was self-taught piano from a young age and studied composition at Seoul National University as w ...

's Cello Concerto, which Chin composed for Gerhardt. He subsequently recorded the concerto commercially for Deutsche Grammophon. Gerhardt has also collaborated with other composers such as

Thomas Larcher Thomas Larcher (born 16 September 1963, in Innsbruck) is an Austrian composer and pianist. Biography and Work Thomas Larcher completed his studies at the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna under Heinz Medjimorec and Elisabeth Leonsk ...

Brett Dean Brett Dean (born 23 October 1961) is an Australian composer, violist and conductor. Biography Brett Dean was born, raised and educated in Brisbane. He started learning violin at the age of eight, and later studied viola with Elizabeth Morgan a ...

Jörg Widmann Jörg Widmann (born 19 June 1973) is a German composer, conductor and clarinetist. In 2018, Widmann was the third most performed contemporary composer in the world. Formerly a clarinet and composition professor at the University of Music Freibu ...

Osvaldo Golijov Osvaldo Noé Golijov (; born December 5, 1960) is an Argentine composer of classical music and music professor, known for his vocal and orchestral work. Biography Osvaldo Golijov was born in and grew up in La Plata, Argentina, in a Jewish family ...

Mathias Hinke Mathias, a given name and a surname which is a variant of Matthew (name), may refer to: Places * Mathias, West Virginia * Mathias Township, Michigan People with the given name or surname ''Mathias'' In music * Mathias Eick, Norwegian Jazz Musicia ...

and

Matthias Pintscher Matthias Pintscher (born 29 January 1971) is a German composer and conductor. As a youth, he studied the violin and conducting. Life and career Pintscher was born in Marl, North Rhine-Westphalia. He began his music studies with Giselher Klebe in ...

. Gerhardt has won three ECHO Klassik Awards (1998, 2003 & 2009) as well as ICMA and MIDEM Classic awards. His DG recording of Unsuk Chin's Cello Concerto won the BBC Music Magazine Award in 2015 and was shortlisted for a Gramophone Award in 2015. He has made several commercial records for Hyperion. He has also recorded for Chandos Records. Gerhardt plays a

Matteo Goffriller Matteo Goffriller (1659–1742) was a Republic of Venice, Venetian luthier, particularly noted for the quality of his cellos. He was active between 1685–1735 and was the founder of the "Venetian School (music), Venetian School" of luthiers, durin ...

cello, made in 1710. In addition to his concert performances, Gerhardt has done various projects that have involved performance outside of traditional concert halls, such as in schools, hospitals and young offender institutions. In 2012, he also began collaboration with Deutsche Bahn, involving live performances on the main commuter routes in Germany. Gerhardt has been married twice. His marriage to his first wife, Katalina, produced a son. His second wife is the violinist Gergana Gergova, and the couple have a son.

References

External links

Official website of Alban Gerhardt

Hyperion Records page on Alban Gerhardt

* ttps://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/apr/06/facing-the-music-cellist-alban-gerhardt 'Facing the music: Alban Gerhardt'. ''The Guardian'', 6 April 2015 {{DEFAULTSORT:Gerhardt, Alban 1969 births German classical cellists Living people BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists Oehms Classics artists