About Us
Our Management and Artistic TeamBIOGRAPHY
Benedict Kloeckner
Cello
Appointed Visiting Producer
One of Germany's most acclaimed young cellists, Benedict Kloeckner is performing with renowned orchestras such as the Royal Philharmonic, German Radio Philharmonic Orchestras, the NDR and Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestras, the Kremerata Baltica, Slovak Radio Orchestra and the Russian and Polish State Philharmonic Orchestras, alongside conductors such as Christoph Eschenbach, Howard Griffiths, Ingo Metzmacher, Michael Sanderling, Karl Heinz Steffens, Christoph Poppen, and Heinrich Schiff.
In the 2019-2020 season, Kloeckner will perform as featured soloist in the Dvořák Cello Concerto on an Asian tour with the Slovak National Orchestra, the Shostakovich Cello Concerto in Germany and Austria with the Rheinische Philharmonie led by Daniel Raiskin, and concerts with the Filarmónica de Buenos Aires. He will perform the Beethoven Triple Concerto in several European tours; recitals of the complete Bach Cello Suites in Berlin, the Netherlands, and Washington state; a South American tour featuring recitals at the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires as well as in São Paulo and Montevideo; and a US tour with concerts in New York, DC, and Baltimore.
Championed by maestros such as Daniel Barenboim and Sir Simon Rattle, he performs across Europe, North and South America, and Asia at venues including Berlin Philharmonic Hall, Carnegie Hall, Chicago's Symphony Hall, The Kennedy Center, Tonhalle Zurich, Cadogan Hall, the Barbican Centre, Athenäum Bukarest, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Musikverein Wien, and Seoul Arts Center. A keen chamber musician, Kloeckner regularly collaborates with renowned artists such as Emanuel Ax, Yuri Bashmet, Danae Dörken, Christoph Eschenbach, Anna Fedorova, Gidon Kremer, Anne Sophie Mutter, Antoine Tamestit, the Carducci String Quartet, and Sir Andras Schiff. Kloeckner opened the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra's 2017/18 season performing two concertos, one of which was the premiere of Howard Blake's Double Concerto. In 2018 he presented the world premiere of Eun-Hwa Cho's Cello Concerto with the Korean Chamber Orchestra led by Christoph Poppen, part of a three day residency at Seoul Arts Center, as well as the world premiere of Wolfgang Rihm's Double Concerto for Two Celli.
Kloeckner is a prize-winner of major international competitions such as the European Broadcasting Union Award in Bratislava, the Grand Prix Emanuel Feuermann Cello Competition in Berlin, the Animato International Soloist Competition in Zurich, the Nicolas Firmenich Prize from the Verbier Festival, the Manhattan International Music Competition New York, and the European Culture Prize from the European Culture Foundation.
Benedict Kloeckner regularly collaborates with contemporary composers including Eric Tanguy, Wolfgang Rihm, and Howard Blake. Howard Blake composed a cello sonata for him and, in celebration of his 75th birthday, Blake invited Kloeckner to record his entire repertoire for cello and piano on Genuin Records. His recording catalogue includes a highly acclaimed recording of Robert Schumann's Cello Concerto, which was nominated for the German Record Critics prize, and collaborations with Gidon Kremer, conductors Heinrich Schiff and Michael Sanderling, and pianists José Gallardo and Anna Fedorova. Future recordings include a CD with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and a recital CD with Danae Dörken.
Since September 2014, Benedict Kloeckner is the artistic director and founder of the International Music Festival Koblenz, an organization presenting high level chamber music concerts with artists such as Vilde Frang, Tianwa Yang, Boris Giltburgm and the Georgian and Munich Chamber Orchestras.
Benedict Kloeckner studied with Martin Ostertag as well as Frans Helmerson and Gary Hoffman at the Kronberg Academy, graciously financed by the Angela Winkler-Scholarship since October 2009. Kloeckner is also grateful to Steven Isserlis, Gidon Kremer, Michael Sanderling, and Sir Andras Schiff for the musical insight and support they have offered for his artistic development. He plays a 1680 Francesco Rugeri Cremona cello, kindly on loan to him by the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben.