Having launched his career with the Berliner Philharmoniker and Semyon Bychkov in 1991, Alban Gerhardt has since gained recognition as one of the most versatile cellists, highly regarded for his performances, from solo Bach through the classical and romantic canon to collaborations with several contemporary composers.

For over thirty years, he has made a unique impact on audiences worldwide with his intense musicality, compelling stage presence and insatiable artistic curiosity. His gift for shedding fresh light on familiar scores, along with his appetite for investigating new repertoire from centuries past and present, truly set him apart from his peers.

Notable orchestra collaborations include Concertgebouw Amsterdam, all of the British and German radio orchestras, Berliner Philharmoniker, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Orchestre National de France as well as The Cleveland, Philadelphia, Boston and Chicago symphony orchestras, under conductors such as Christoph von Dohnányi, Kurt Masur, Klaus Mäkelä, Christian Thielemann, Simone Young, Susanna Mälkki, Vladimir Jurowski and Andris Nelsons.

Gerhardt has a very wide repertoire including all the core concertos and, at the same time, is the go-to soloist for contemporary composers. He most recently premiered Julian Anderson’s concerto with Orchestre National de France, following on from the success of his performances of Brett Dean’s concerto premiered with Sydney Symphony Orchestra and Berliner Philharmoniker and played with New York Philharmonic, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and London Philharmonic Orchestra amongst others. The upcoming season highlights include Minnesota Orchestra/Halls, Spanish National Orchestra/Young, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra/V. Petrenko, and Orquestra Gulbenkian. He will also perform the Asian premiere of the Anderson concerto with Hong Kong Sinfonietta.

Gerhardt has won several awards, and his recording of Unsuk Chin’s Cello Concerto, released by Deutsche Grammophon, won the BBC Music Magazine Award and was shortlisted for a Gramophone Award in 2015. Gerhardt has recorded extensively for Hyperion; his recording of complete Bach suites was released in 2019 and was one of The Sunday Times top 100 CDs of the year (all genres included). His recent album Shostakovich: Cello Concertos with the WDR Sinfonieorchester, Köln and Jukka-Pekka Saraste, was awarded the International Classical Music Award in 2021.

He is a keen chamber musician; his regular performance partners include Steven Osborne with whom he will perform in North America this season. He has collaborated on a new artistic project, ’Love in Fragments’ with violinist Gergana Gergova, choreographer Sommer Ulrickson, and sculptor Alexander Polzin. A poetic union of music, movement, sculpture and the spoken word, the project successfully premiered at 92 NY in New York.

Gerhardt is passionate about sharing his discoveries with audiences far beyond the traditional concert hall: outreach projects undertaken in Europe and the US have involved performances and workshops, not only in schools and hospitals, but also pioneering sessions in public spaces and young offender institutions.

Alban Gerhardt plays a Matteo Gofriller cello dating from 1710.