Andreas Brantelid

Andreas Brantelid ranks among Scandinavia’s foremost cellists and has compiled an extensive list of concerto engagements with leading orchestras throughout numerous countries, while maintaining an active role in chamber music as well.

Born in Copenhagen, Denmark, on October 8, 1987, he received his earliest cello instruction from his father and advanced so quickly that he appeared as concerto soloist at age 14, performing Elgar’s Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85, with the Royal Danish Orchestra. Several prominent awards sustained the trajectory established during his prodigy years: he won the Eurovision Young Musicians Contest in 2006, representing Sweden, and was named Denmark Radio’s Artist of the Year in 2007. In 2008 he received the Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship and joined the European Concert Organization’s Rising Star Tour for the 2008–2009 season; from 2008 to 2011 he was designated a BBC New Generation Artist.

The roster of major orchestras with which Brantelid has appeared includes the London Philharmonic, Seattle Symphony, and NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, together with every principal ensemble in the Nordic countries. He has performed under conductors such as Vasily Petrenko, Thomas Dausgaard, and Sakari Oramo. An avid chamber musician, Brantelid regularly collaborates with pianist Bengt Forsberg and violinist Nils-Erik Sparf, has formed a trio with violinist Benjamin Schmid and pianist Christian Ihle Hadland, and has shared stages with Paul Badura-Skoda, Joshua Bell, and Daniel Barenboim.

His recording career began in 2008 on the EMI Classics label with concertos by Saint-Saëns, Tchaikovsky, and Schumann, recorded with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra. Additional EMI projects followed before he moved to BIS in 2015 for Grieg’s Cello Sonata and Percy Grainger’s Scandinavian Suite. Subsequent chamber-music releases appeared on BIS, and in 2020 Brantelid and Forsberg issued the Naxos album Russian Tales, devoted to music by Alexander Glazunov and Nikolai Myaskovsky.