Alexander Hülshoff
grown up in the Palatinate in southwestern Germany, has established himself as a soloist and chamber musician on concert stages all over the world. He stands out for the great expressiveness and a powerful, warm and nuanced sound that identifies his playing. His musical skills are valued by audiences and musical partners alike and his exceptional hallmarks are recognized on concert stages all over the world.

As a soloist he is guest of German and international Orchestras such as the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie, the Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie, the Staatsorchester Rheinische Philharmonie, the Brno Philharmonic, the Neue Philharmonie Westfalen, the Orquesta Sinfonica de Cordoba, the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie, the Orquesta Ciudad de Granada, the Tel Aviv Soloist Ensemble, the Limburg Symfonie Orkest Maastricht, the George Ensecu Philharmonie, the Kymi Sinfonietta, the Armenian National Phlilharmonic Orchestra, the Istanbul Devlet Senfoni Orkestrasi, the Orchestra Sinfonica di Roma, the Orquestra Sinfônica do Teatro Nacional Claudio Santoro of Brasilia, the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra (Rio de Janeiro), the Mikkelin Kaupunginorkesteri, Orquesta Sinfonica de la UANL and many others.

His concert tours take him to other European countries, the Near and Far East as well as Russia and North and South America. Chamber music occupies a central place in his performances and recordings both as cellist of the Trio Bamberg and in ensemble playing with colleagues such as Pinchas Zukerman, Martin Stadfeld, Fazil Say, Friedemann Eichhorn, Hagai Shaham, Vadim Gluzman, the Fine Arts Quartet, Orion Quarett, Gil Sharon, Rainer Honeck.

Together with his music partners he gives concerts in famous halls such as the Berlin Philharmonie, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, De Doelen in Rotterdam, the Wigmore Hall in London, the Prinzregententheater in Munich, Konzerthaus Berlin and many others.

Alexander Hülshoff is Creator and Artistic Director of the Kloster Kamp Chamber Music Festival and the Artistic Director of Villa Musica, a foundation of the Rhineland-Palatinate State.

Numerous CDs testify the wideness of his musical range, including works by Brahms, Beethoven, Schubert, Shostakovich, Bloch, Servais and others. The recordings have been published by Novalis, Naxos, Musicaphon, Brillant, VDM musical treasures and Oehms Classics.

In 1997 Alexander Hülshoff was appointed professor for violoncello at the Folkwang University of the Arts.

Since April 2014 he has been the Artistic Director of the Orchesterzentrum | NRW, an institution gathering the four music academies of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. He studied at the Musikhochschule Karlsruhe and with Lynn Harrell at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles.

Martin Rummel
Austrian cellist Martin Rummel is far more than only a cellist: “Musician, cultural manager, academic, enjoying life”, is how he describes himself, albeit that – besides his academic career – playing the cello remains his “core business”. A growing number (currently almost 60) CD albums for various international labels result in ongoing praise from international press and audiences as well as his reputation as one of the leading cellists of his generation. Numerous premiere recordings and musical rediscoveries testify for Rummel’s belief that content is more important than packaging. “The big task for the next generation is to finally throw out the tuxedo, to focus on what and how music is made rather than on who plays where”, he says.

Martin Rummel is a regular guest of orchestras, festivals and venues across Europe, Asia, Oceania and the Americas, with conductors and chamber music partners of all generations – namedropping is not his. As a pedagogue, he has published a series of editions of all major cello etudes which have become standard worldwide. After teaching positions at the Musikakademie in Kassel (Germany) and the University of Auckland, he was the Head of School at the University of Auckland’s School of Music from 2016 to 2020 and, from 2017 to 2020, an honorary professor at the China Conservatory of Music. At Auckland, he led a comprehensive and fundamental redesign process of the Bachelor and Master of Music offerings. After just over a year as the CEO of JAM MUSIC LAB, Europe’s only music university specializing in jazz and popular music, he took up the position as President at the Anton Bruckner University in Linz effective 1 October 2021. Being a passionate music communicator, he had his own show on Radio Klassik Stephansdom for six years, and writes and talks about music in many different formats.

Rummel is an alumnus of the Brucknerkonservatorium Linz and the Cologne Musikhochschule. His heart lies in a playing tradition that was conveyed to him during a decade of studies with the legendary William Pleeth, always focusing on the music, not the musician.