Leonard Elschenbroich (Cello)

"Leonard has an extraordinary and unique gift: His musical sensitivity, combined with courageous virtuosity are truly impressive and his radiant expressive personality is deeply convincing."
- Anne-Sophie Mutter

“Depth, expressivity, charisma, perfection. His playing is the ideal every artist searches for.”
- Christoph Eschenbach

Winner of this year’s Leonard Bernstein Award and winner of the Borlettti-Buitoni-Trust, 24 year-old cellist Leonard Elschenbroich has recently caught the attention of today’s greatest international conductors. Subsequent invitations to orchestral Debuts include: Valery Gergiev for Basel Symphony, Semyon Bychkov with the WDR Symphony, Manfred Honeck with the Swedish Radio Symphony, Christoph Eschenbach and Anne-Sophie Mutter at the Schleswig-Holstein Festival, as well as personal invitations from Dmitri Kitajenko, Howard Griffiths and Paavo Jarvi. He has also been invited to perform chamber music by Gidon Kremer at the Lockenhaus Festival, Katia & Marielle Labeque at the Verbier Festival, and Anne-Sophie Mutter in Weimar and Munich.

This season saw further debuts with the the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Brandenburg State Symphony, Stavanger Symphony, Bremen Philharmonic, Munich Symphony, as well as with the Brahms Double Concerto aside Nicola Benedetti and the ULSO in Hong Kong. Future highlights include a re-invitation to a Tour with the Munich Symphony, an invitation to Yuri Temirkanov's Winter Fest with the St. Petersburg Symphony, the Festival Generation Virtuoses, the Berlin Symphony, as wel as a recital at the Wigmore Hall and a recital of the complete Beethoven Sonatas with Christoph Eschenbach at the Schleswig-Holstein Festival.

As a recitalist Leonard has performed with pianists Anna Vinnitskaya, Martin Helmchen and Polina Leschenko in 18 European countries, and as part of the concert series “New Masters on Tour” he gave recitals in the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, as well as Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kiev, Bratislava, Prague, Tallinn and Helsinki.

Upon recommendation of Sir Colin Davis, Leonard was a Borletti-Buitoni Trust winner last year, and has received honorary awards from the Kronberg Academy, the Pro Europa Society, the Verbier Festival, and will receive the Leonard-Bernstein-Award at the Schleswig-Holstein Festival before an audience of 5000 people. Also, for the last four years Leonard has received intensive support by the Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation.

Leonard has just made his Debut recording, to be released this year, featuring works by Alfred Schnittke, which will include an homage composition of his own.

Born 1985 in Frankfurt, Leonard was invited to the Yehudi Menuhin School in London at the age of 10 and gave over a hundred concerts in England, amongst them at the Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall and the Wigmore Hall. He currently holds a Fellowship at the Royal Academy of Music in London.

He plays a cello by Matteo Goffriller “Leonard Rose”, Venice 1693, on private loan.


Web Site of Leonard Elschenbroich