German virtuoso of cello comes to city

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

German cellist Leonard Elschenbroich will take the stage on Dec. 20 at the Akbank Art Center.

Since his success at the opening concert of the 2009 Schleswig-Holstein Festival where he performed the Brahms Double Concerto with Anne-Sophie Mutter under the direction of Christoph Eschenbach and received the Leonard Bernstein Award, Elschenbroich has been widely regarded as one of the most important and original cellists of his generation.

In recent years, the winner of the Borlettti-Buitoni-Trust and long time protégé of the Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation has caught the attention of great international conductors, receiving invitations from Valery Gergiev, Semyon Bychkov, Manfred Honeck, Christoph Eschenbach, Dmitri Kitajenko and Fabio Luisi. He has performed with the Swedish Radio Symphony, Basel Symphony, WDR Symphony, Stavanger Symphony, Bremen Philharmonic, Munich Symphony and St. Petersburg Philharmonic. Last summer he gave his North American debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and his South American debut at the Sala Sao Paulo in Brazil.

Elschenbroich has given recitals in 19 European countries, among them at the Alte Oper in Frankfurt, Wigmore Hall in London, Auditorium du Louvre in Paris and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. For the concert series “New Masters on Tour” he performed in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Bratislava, Prague, Tallinn and Helsinki. This past summer he performed the complete Beethoven Sonatas with Eschenbach at the Schleswig-Holstein Festival.

Upcoming highlights include a European tour with Staatskapelle Dresden, including debuts at Vienna Musikverein and Birmingham Symphony Hall, Spain debuts with the Russian National Philharmonic directed by Vladimir Spivakov, Japan debuts at Nikkei Hall in Tokyo and with the Nagoya Philharmonic, and his London Philharmonic debut at the Royal Festival Hall. Upcoming recitals include the Istanbul Festival and the Lucerne Festival.

A passionate chamber musician, he performed with Katia & Marielle Labéque at the Verbier Festival, Helene Grimaud and Renaud Capucon at the Chambery Festival and with Gidon Kremer at the Lockenhaus Festival, where he also appeared as a soloist with the Kremerata Baltica.
Elschenbroich will play Debussy, Schnittke and Rachmaninov at the Akbank concert, which starts at 7 p.m.