Masterclass Violoncello

“To be an artist is not only a privilege and a joy, but also a great responsibility to carry. You can achieve a lot and shape a lot – that is a unique opportunity.”
Alexey Stadler

One musical highlight follows another: as a soloist with orchestras such as the San Francisco Symphony, the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, or the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, Alexey Stadler has earned great acclaim.
“Enchanting, the way he plays.” – Tagesspiegel

Stadler has performed under conductors such as Dmitri Kitayenko, Constantinos Carydis, Elim Chan, Robert Trevino, Valery Gergiev, Marek Janowski, Antony Hermus, Anu Tali, Stanislav Kochanovsky, and Dan Ettinger.
His chamber music partners include renowned artists such as Jörg Widmann, Igor Levit, Alice Sara Ott, Viviane Hagner, and the Quatuor Ébène, alongside many other distinguished musicians and ensembles.
He has left a lasting impression at international festivals including the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, Heidelberger Frühling, the International Chamber Music Festival Stavanger, the Menuhin Festival Gstaad, and the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.

“Alexey Stadler is impressive and impeccable.” – The Amati Magazine

A cellist who unites musical depth with cultural vision, Stadler looks forward to an important 2025/26 season, with appearances including the Orchestra della Toscana, the Rheinische Philharmonie, the Beethovenhaus Bonn, and the NFM Wrocław Philharmonic.

“Stadler’s performance gained an ever-increasing sense of inwardness that seemed to go to the very heart of the piece.” – The Guardian

Born in St. Petersburg, Stadler first received intensive instrumental training while simultaneously studying music theory, harmony, and orchestration at the Rimsky-Korsakov Music College, where, as he himself says, he learned the language of music. His path soon took him beyond Russia, shaped by influential cellists such as Frans Helmerson and David Geringas, who paved the way for his artistic development.

Upon recommendation, Alexey Stadler met Professor Wolfgang E. Schmidt, whom he immediately recognized as the teacher to accompany him throughout his artistic studies—from his Bachelor’s degree to the concert diploma.
The University of Music FRANZ LISZT and the cultural city of Weimar became Stadler’s new home base—a period of intense musical work that soon led to his international breakthrough. The decisive moment came in 2012 when he won first prize at the TONALi Competition in Hamburg, which set a remarkable career in motion.

Since then, Stadler has established himself internationally as a soloist performing with leading orchestras around the world. Under the guidance of mentors such as Steven Isserlis and Sir András Schiff, he continues to shape and refine his artistic identity.

Since 2023, he has been passing on his knowledge to the next generation as Professor of Cello at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg. He attaches great importance not only to mutual respect and open communication but also to fostering a strong connection with the audience.
“I admire artists who have a strong artistic profile and go deep in their musical work – artists who care about the world. To reproduce music without asking questions is not enough for me.”

Whether performing Alfred Schnittke’s Cello Sonata or Dmitri Shostakovich’s First Cello Concerto, Alexey Stadler sees it as essential to give both core repertoire and lesser-known works a meaningful context. He strives to enrich his concerts with this additional layer of meaning, to build and deepen the connection with the audience – and, above all, to sustain it.

The close relationship between world events and artistic creation becomes evident at the International Chamber Music Festival Krzyżowa in Poland, where Stadler serves as artistic advisor and symposium director. Krzyżowa, a place steeped in history and symbolic of Polish-German reconciliation, resonates through every concert performed there.

A formative experience for Stadler occurred early in his life: he once heard Olivier Messiaen’s Quatuor pour la fin du Temps without knowing anything about its background, and the music left him unmoved. Later, upon learning of its origins – composed in 1941 in the prisoner-of-war camp of Görlitz “in honor of the Angel of the Apocalypse, who raises his hands to heaven and says, ‘There shall be time no longer’” and premiered before 400 inmates in freezing cold – he listened again, this time deeply affected and profoundly moved.

“It was the same piece. But now it had a context – I listened differently, and I wept.”