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.

After many years with Ulrich Voss, Julian Steckel has studied with Gustav Rivinius in Saarbrucken, Boris Pergamenschikow in Berlin and Heinrich Schiff in Vienna. He is currently completing his studies with Antje Weithaas in Berlin.

He has given concerts as a soloist with Orchestre de Paris, with the Radio Symphony Orchestras of Berlin, Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Saarbrucken, Copenhagen and Warsaw, the Kremerata Baltica, the Franz-Liszt Chamber Orchestra of Budapest and the Zurich and Stuttgart chamber orchestras, under such conductors as Sir Roger Norrington, Christopher Hogwood, Heinrich Schiff, Andrey Boreyko, Yuri Simonov, Christian Arming, Michael Sanderling, Yoel Levi and John Storgards.

Julian Steckel is especially passionate about chamber music, in which he has performed with Lars Vogt, Christian Tetzlaff, Antje Weithaas, Isabelle Faust, Sarah Chang, Gustav Rivinius, Yuri Bashmet, Alexander Lonquich, Thomas Larcher and Francois Leuleux as well as with the Ebène, Vogler, Guarneri and Talich quartets, and as a guest artist at such festivals as the ‘Spannungen’ Festival Heimbach, and the Lucerne, Ludwigsburg, Bonn, Schwetzingen, Zermatt, Mondsee, Cambrai and Menton festivals. Further appearances as soloist and chamber musician have taken him to both the Philharmonie and the Konzerthaus in 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, the KKL Luzern and the Seoul Arts Center.

Julian Steckel has been awarded numerous First and Second Prizes, ranging from the Rostropovitch Competition in Paris, the Grand Prix Feuermann in Berlin, the International Casals Competition in Kronberg, the International Lutoslawski Competition in Warsaw to the German Music Competition in Berlin. Julian Steckel has also been awarded the Verbier Festival Prize and most recently, a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship Award in London.

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 from the international music press, as well as numerous international awards.

2010 will bring the release of recordings of the cello concertos by Goldschmidt and Korngold, as well as Ernest Bloch’s ‘Schelomo’, with the Rheinische Philharmonie Koblenz and Daniel Raiskin, and of Luigi Dallapiccola’s cello concerto with the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra. Steckel is also a member of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra under Claudio Abbado.

Julian Steckel plays an instrument by Urs W. Mächler (Speyer 2005).