| Biography | Born in 1985 in Frankfurt, Leonard Elschenbroich received a scholarship, aged ten, to study at the Yehudi Menuhin School in London. He later studied with Frans Helmerson at the Cologne Music Academy.
Elschenbroich received the Leonard Bernstein award at the opening concert of the 2009 Schleswig- Holstein Festival, following his performance of the Brahms Double with Anne-Sophie Mutter under the direction of Christoph Eschenbach. Since then, he has excited interest as one the most charismatic cellists of his generation.
He has received invitations from a number of eminent conductors, including Dmitri Kitajenko, Valery Gergiev, Semyon Bychkov, Manfred Honeck and Christoph Eschenbach. Leonard was chosen as a BBC New Generation Artist in 2012, a prestigious award offering performances and recordings with all the BBC orchestras, recitals at Wigmore Hall and The Sage, Gateshead, and the BBC Proms, with all performances broadcast on the BBC.
As a soloist he has performed with the London Philharmonic, WDR Symphony Orchestra, Konzerthaus Orchestera Berlin, Swedish Radio Symphony, Basel Symphony Orchestra, Stavanger Symphony, St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Buenos Aires Philharmonic, Nagoya Philharmonic, Japan Philharmonic, and Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He made his debut at the Musikverien in Vienna with the Dresden Staatskapelle and Christoph Eschenbach on their 2011 European tour.
In the autumn of 2012 he toured China with concerts in Shanghai, Guangzhou, Tianjin, and Beijing. He then returned to Japan, giving his debut with the Japan Philharmonic conducted by Alexander Lazarev, as well as recitals in Fukushima and Tokyo.
Elschenbroich has given recitals at the Wigmore Hall in London, the Auditorium du Louvre, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, at the Ravinia Festival in Chicago, the Lucerne Festival, the Gstaad Festival, the Istanbul International Festival, the Rheingau, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, and Schleswig-Holstein Festival, where he performed the complete Beethoven sonatas with Christoph Eschenbach. On tour in South America, he has performed with the Buenos Aires Philharmonic at the Teatro Colon and gave recitals in Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Lima and Sao Paulo.
As a member of two piano trios, the Sitkovetsky Trio, and with Nicola Benedetti and Alexei Grynyuk, he played in the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival, Bath Festival, many times at the Wigmore Hall, and at the BBC Proms and the Hong Kong International Festival. As a chamber musician he has appeared several times at the Verbier Festival, and with Gidon Kremer at the Kronberg and the Lockenhaus Festival.
Elschenbroichs many awards include: the Leonard Bernstein Award, Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award, Eugene Istomin Prize, Pro Europa prize, Landgraf von Hessen price of the Kronberg Academy, Nordmetall Prize of the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival, Firmenich Prize of the Verbier Festival. From 2004-2008 he was supported by the Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation, performing with her on a number of occasions, including a European tour. |