Biography

Born in Berlin to a musical family, Alban Gerhardt’s ability on both cello and piano demonstrated musical talent at a very early age. His teachers include Boris Pergamenschikow, Markus Nyikos, and Frans Helmerson.

Following early competition successes and his debut with the Berlin Philharmonic, Mr. Gerhardt has now performed with more than 170 orchestras worldwide. He made his San Francisco Symphony debut in 2005. Highlights of recent and upcoming seasons include invitations to the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Hallé Orchestra, the Berlin Radio Symphony, the NDR Symphony, the Munich State Opera, the Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne, the Düsseldorf Symphony, the Philharmonia Zurich, the Melbourne and Sydney symphonies, the NHK Symphony in Tokyo, and the BBC, London, Netherlands, Czech, and Oslo philharmonics. In the US he will appear with the Fort Worth Symphony and the Philadelphia Orchestra, and he began as Artist-in-Residence with the Oregon Symphony this season. 

Alban Gerhardt’s collaborations with composers such as Brett Dean, Unsuk Chin, Osvaldo Golijov, Mathias Hinke, Thomas Larcher, Matthias Pintscher, Peteris Vasks, and Jörg Widmann demonstrate his strong interest in enlarging the cello repertoire. Following his debut of Unsuk Chin’s Cello Concerto at the BBC Proms in 2009, he also premiered it with the Boston Symphony, the Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne, the Residentie Orkest in Amsterdam, and the Seoul and Tampere philharmonics. 

An exclusive Hyperion recording artist, Mr. Gerhardt’s recent releases include a recital CD featuring sonatas by Chopin and Alkan with pianist Steven Osborne, Prokofiev’s Sinfonia concertante and Cello Concerto with the Bergen Philharmonic under Andrew Litton, and Casals Encores with pianist Cecile Licad, which was selected as BBC Music Magazine’s Chamber Choice in August 2011. He has won three ECHO-Klassik awards, most recently for his all-Reger double CD in 2009.

Mr. Gerhardt is committed to finding new ways for audiences to discover and experience classical music, and in a recent project he played Bach Cello Suites in supermarkets and other local venues prior to his performance with the city’s orchestra. Mr. Gerhardt performs on a cello made by Matteo Gofriller. For more information, visit albangerhardt.com.

(May 2013)