Leonard Elschenbroich

Leonard Elschenbroich ranks among Germany’s foremost cellists, maintaining an international profile that spans solo engagements and chamber collaborations while maintaining an unexpected link to Bolivia.

Born in Frankfurt in 1985, he entered the Yehudi Menuhin School in London on scholarship at age ten and later pursued advanced training at the Cologne Music Academy under Frans Helmerson. Receipt of the Leonard Bernstein Award in 2009 brought wider attention. During 2012 several milestones coincided: designation as a BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist, his first Oehms recording of Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme, Op. 33, and an extensive Latin American tour that included a visit to Bolivia, where he performed under conductor Miguel Salazar Hidalgo. Despite rehearsing beneath a leaking roof, he encountered exceptional commitment and resolved to assist the ensemble.

He subsequently assumed the role of artistic mentor to that orchestra, cultivated ties with another ensemble in Medellín, Colombia, and has since appeared as concerto soloist and recitalist throughout South America.

In Germany he has served as artist-in-residence at Deutschlandfunk and with the Philharmonic Society of Bremen. His debut album on the Onyx label in 2013 earned strong critical notice; he has remained with the label, issuing the 2017 recital Siècle devoted to French cello repertoire spanning Saint-Saëns and Dutilleux. Elschenbroich has appeared with leading orchestras throughout Europe, the United States, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand, and has performed at the BBC Proms on seven occasions. Recital venues include Wigmore Hall, the Auditorium du Louvre, Concertgebouw, the Frick Collection, and the Ravinia Festival in Chicago. He has commissioned works from several composers and gave the premiere of Mark Simpson’s Cello Concerto with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra in April 2018. The following year he recorded the complete Beethoven cello sonatas with pianist Alexei Grynyuk. His personal relationship with violinist Nicola Benedetti has drawn occasional non-musical attention; the pair have also collaborated in a piano trio with Grynyuk. In 2022 Elschenbroich and Grynyuk released Brahms Analogue on Onyx, presenting Brahms works captured on analog tape.