"Phenomenally gifted"

Die Welt

"Julian Steckel (…) with a sensitive feeling for shaping sound, romantic fire and ample, sonorous abundance of tone… faultless intonation and fingering technique…"

Taunus Zeitung

"…Julian Steckel articulated, put rhythm into, and coloured György Ligeti’s Sonata for Solo Cello as flexibly as a speech of sound…"

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

"…was a treat for cello enthusiasts, providing the highest standard of playing as one has become used to from Steckel. …he won the hearts of the audience with his skilful, polished play that was oozing sensitivity to music and instrument with every note. He has magical hands that create superb musicianship and he seems to have everything in place: technical skill, sensitivity, charisma and intuition. …downright magisterial…"

Music and Vision

"Superstar of tomorrow…

…irresistible, the 23-year-old plays runs at breakneck speed, just like that, quite effortlessly, there the sparks fly, stunning pyrotechnics. ... Steckel’s steady, extremely withdrawn, but always substantial ‘piano’ (…) makes one’s hair stand on end. Steckel plays whatever and however he wishes, coherently and compellingly, everybody goes along with him…"

Die Rheinpfalz

"…fascinating how Julian Steckel was ignited by Kodaly’s Sonata, Op. 8, how he charged it with energy until it seemed to explode, how he electrified the notes, splattered these with rhythmic neutrons and compressed them into formal meltdown."

Frankfurter Rundschau

"…the highlight of the evening was indubitably the cello concerto with a superb soloist.

Steckel presented the solo part with astonishing ease and unique intonation. He conjured up velvet tones from his instrument and swung himself up to violin tones in the flageolet range, whose suppleness could barely have been exceeded."

Taunus Zeitung

"…so ruggedly full of enjoyment, so absorbing, as almost to take the listener’s breath away in the Great Hall of Heimbach’s Jugendstil power station. ..."

Der Spiegel

"This time we have to proclaim – with no reservations or limitations whatever – a phenomenal talent. Today Julian Steckel already possesses the compelling charisma, the musical authority and the virtuoso air of a master soloist.

His scale of colour gradations unfolds spaciously, rich in pastel tones and delightful tonalities. …extraordinarily vibrant, multi-layered, sensitive and – in the best sense – artistic."

Die Rheinpfalz

"…technically brilliant, with a wonderfully supple, luminous tone… the cellist’s vivacious, uncannily elaborated agogics…"

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung