Born in 1982, Julian Steckel began playing the cello at the age of five and is today among the most eagerly sought and versatile musicians of his generation. He studied with Ulrich Voss, Gustav Rivinius, Boris Pergamenschikow and Heinrich Schiff. He is currently completing his studies with Antje Weithaas in Berlin. He is a prizewinner of the Rostropovitch Competition in Paris, the Grand Prix Feuermann in Berlin, the International Casals Competition in Kronberg, the International Lutoslawski Competition in Warsaw and the German Music Competition in Berlin. He has been awarded the Verbier Festival Prize and the Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship in 2007. Julian Steckel has appeared as a soloist with Orchestre de Paris, Radio Symphony Orchestras of Berlin, Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Saarbrucken, Copenhagen and Warsaw, Kremerata Baltica, Franz-Liszt Chamber Orchestra and Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra under the baton of Sir Roger Norrington, Christopher Hogwood, Heinrich Schiff, Yuri Simonov and Michael Sanderling. Julian Steckel is a passionate chamber musician who has performed with Lars Vogt, Christian Tetzlaff, Gustav Rivinius, Alexander Lonquich and with the string quartets Ebène, Vogler, Guarneri and Talich. He has been invited by Spannungen Festival Heimbach, the festivals of Lucerne, Ludwigsburg, Schwetzingen, Zermatt and Mondsee. Further performances as a soloist and chamber musician brought him onto the stages of the Philharmonie Berlin, Konzerthaus Berlin, the Herkulessaal and the Philharmonie im Gasteig in Munich, the Laieszhalle in Hamburg, the Salle Pleyel and the Théâtre du Chatelet in Paris, the Tonhalle in Zurich and the Seoul Arts Center. In April 2010 he gave his debut at Alice Tully Hall of the Lincoln Centre in New York. Julian Steckel forms a regular duo with pianist Paul Rivinius and their recording of all Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy’s works for cello and piano has received unanimous praise. His recording of the cello concertos by Goldschmidt and Korngold as well as Ernest Bloch’s
Schelomo, with the Rheinische Philharmonie Koblenz under the baton of Daniel Raiskin and his recording of Luigi Dallapiccola’s cello concerto with the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra will be released in 2010/2011. Julian Steckel plays an instrument by Urs W. Mächler (Speyer 2005).
Photograph taken by Marco Borggreve