BENEDICT KLOECKNER
CELLO

“I really loved his playing!” – Simon Rattle

"Remarkable, really remarkable, perfect playing! Absolute control of technique, intonation and color» – Daniel Barenboim

"Very moving performance.“ – Christoph Eschenbach

Benedict Kloeckner, born in 1989, is one of the most outstanding cellists of his generation. A prize winner of numerous international competitions, he was awarded the prestigious OPUS Klassik award in 2021. He performs as a soloist with the world’s top orchestras such as the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of London, the Deutsche Radiophilharmonie, the NDR Radiophilharmonie, the Mozarteum Orchester Salzburg, the Kremerata Baltica, the MDR Symphony Orchestra and the Munich Chamber Orchestra. His career has led him to collaborate with renowned conductors, including Daniel Barenboim, Christoph Eschenbach, Michael Sanderling, Ingo Metzmacher, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Cristian Măcelaru, and Sir Simon Rattle.

Benedict Kloeckner appears at important venues such as the Berlin Philharmonie, Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center in Washington, Suntory Hall Tokyo, Vienna Musikverein, Tonhalle Zurich and the Royal Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. Benedict Kloeckner is also a regular guest at international festivals, sharing the stage with artists such as Emanuel Ax, Lisa Batiashvili, Gidon Kremer and Anne-Sophie Mutter.

For over 10 years, he has been artistic director of the Koblenz International Music Festival, IMUKO, which he founded. Mr. Kloeckner opens the 2024-2025 season with Haydn's Cello Concerto under the direction of Raphaël Merlin and will perform with Augustin Dumay, Lawrence Power and Leon Botstein. He will make his Budapest debut with András Keller and Janos Balasz at the Liszt Academy, and will return to the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg and Concertgebouw Amsterdam.

Benedict Kloeckner’s latest album Dvořák, recorded with Cristian Măcelaru, the Romanian Chamber Orchestra and Danae Dörken, was released by Berlin Classics in 2024 and has already collected over 600,000 streams. Strad magazine praises Benedict Kloeckner's "addictive and sensual tone", while Gramophone magazine highlights the "architectural sensibility of Cristian Macelaru and Benedict Kloeckner".  A new recording of the Elgar Cello Concerto, also with Maestro Macelaru, will be released in 2026.

Mr. Kloekner’s discography also includes the complete Bach Suites, which he has performed at the Berlin Philharmonie and the Alte Oper Frankfurt. His 2023 recording of the Brahms Sonatas with Yu Kosuge was released by Sony. Many of his albums have been acclaimed by the press and have won awards such as the OPUS Klassik Award and the Supersonic Award.

In the current season Benedict Kloeckner will also perform Brahms' Double Concerto at the Cologne Philharmonie with Kirill Troussov under Gabriel Bebeselea, as well as Dvořák's Cello Concerto at Rotterdam De Doelen under Conrad van Alphen. He will tour with Shostakovich's Concerto No. 1 under Oscar Jockel and will perform Tan Dun's "Crouching Tiger" Concerto under the composer's baton.

The cellist collaborates closely with contemporary composers and has premiered several works, including those by Wolfgang Rihm, Eun Hwa Cho, Eric Tanguy and Dai Fujikura. He presented the Austrian premiere of Fujikura's Cello Concerto with Mozarteum Orchester Salzburg and the world premiere of Eun Hwa Cho's Cello Concerto under Christoph Poppen at Seoul Arts Center.

Benedict Kloeckner received his training at the Karlsruhe University of Music with Martin Ostertag and at the Kronberg Academy with Frans Helmerson and Gary Hoffman.

He plays on the cello "Ex Maurice Gendron" by Francesco Ruggeri (1680), which is generously made available to him by a private patron.