“A musician who lets the notes dance rather than whirl, an exceptional cellist who draws out things in the music that perhaps even the composers never knew were there.” Fono Forum

Julian Steckel is a gifted cellist who has established himself as a soloist of remarkable sensitivity. He began his professional career after winning the ARD International Music Competition in 2010. Since then, he has appeared as a soloist with the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, the Munich Philharmonic, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestre de Paris, the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo, and on many other major European stages.

“As an interpreter, I began to trust my inner world more and to let the audience into it. This is a kind of vulnerability that makes you stronger,” Steckel says about his artistic approach.

Julian studies scores with meticulous attention to detail and a deep understanding of music as a whole. He seeks the organic connections that give a work its unity, and by discovering them, he is able to convey the true message of a composition. “If you know only one room in an apartment but do not know that the apartment has seven more rooms, you will not even truly understand the room you are in,” he explains.

Steckel has worked with conductors such as Iván Fischer, Christoph Eschenbach, Sir Roger Norrington, Fabien Gabel, Lahav Shani, and many others.

Chamber music remains a constant source of inspiration. Julian has collaborated with Janine Jansen, Christian Tetzlaff, Veronika Eberle, Vilde Frang, Sharon Kam, Antoine Tamestit, Lars Vogt, Paul Rivinius, as well as ensembles such as the Modigliani, Armida, and Ébène Quartets.

His discography includes recordings of cello concertos by Korngold, Bloch, Goldschmidt, and Bach, as well as chamber music recordings with Paul Rivinius and Antje Weithaas. For his work, he has received the ECHO Klassik Award.

He studied with Ulrich Voss, Gustav Rivinius, Boris Pergamenschikow, Heinrich Schiff and Antje Weithaas. “My very first teacher made lightness and simplicity the central principles of playing. Listen to yourself, plan what you do, and do it right the first time. I owe everything to that insight,” Julian Steckel explains. Today, Julian teaches at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich as Professor of Cello.