Maximilian Hornung

With his striking musicality, instinctive stylistic certainty and musical maturity, the young cellist Maximilian Hornung is taking the international music scene by storm. Today, he regularly performs as a soloist with such renowned orchestras as the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, Czech Philharmonic, Vienna Symphony, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Bamberg Symphony under conductors such as Daniel Harding, Yannick Nézét-Séguin, Mariss Jansons, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Semyon Bychkov, Bernard Haitink, Manfred Honeck, Antonello Manacorda, Mario Venzago, Jonathan Nott, Kristjan Järvi, Andrew Manze, Krzysztof Urbanski and Robin Ticciati. His chamber music partners include Anne-Sophie Mutter, Antje Weithaas, Hélène Grimaud, Daniil Trifonov, Christian Tetzlaff, Lisa Batiashvili, François Leleux, Yefim Bronfman, Herbert Schuch, Lars Vogt, Jörg Widmann and Tabea Zimmermann. He has performed with the Arcanto Quartett and the Cuarteto Casals and has been invited to perform at festivals including Schwetzingen, Salzburg, Schwelsig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Rheingau, Lucerne, Verbier, Ravinia and Hong Kong. He has appeared in concert halls such as the philharmonic halls of Berlin, Cologne and Essen as well as the Vienna Musikverein, Concertgebouw Amsterdam and London’s Wigmore Hall.

In the 2017/18 season, Maximilian Hornung made his first appearances with the MDR Symphony Orchestra under Kristjan Järvi, the Orchestre National de France under Kirill Karabits, the Tapiola Sinfonietta under Mario Venzago and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra under Daniel Harding. In addition, he was re-invited to the Bern Symphony Orchestra under Mario Venzago, the Florida Orchestra under Michael Francis, the Kammerakademie Potsdam under Antonello Manacorda and the Munich Chamber Orchestra under John Storgårds.

Highlights of the 2018/19 season include re-invitations to the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra under Pablo Heras-Casado, the Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz under Michael Francis, the Kammerakademie Potsdam under Antonello Manacorda, the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana under Markus Poschner, and the Munich and Stuttgart Chamber Orchestras. He will make his debuts with the Staatskapelle Weimar, the Orchestre Metropolitain Montreal, the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen as well as the Aalborg Symfoniorkester. In September 2018, he will become Artistic Director of the VivaCello Festival Liestal.

His wide-ranging discography is impressive, not only due to his relatively young age, and includes solo concertos as well as recordings with prominent chamber musicians. He received the ECHO Klassik Prize for his first album (Sony 2011) – for which he was designated as Young Artist of the Year – as well as for his recording of Dvorák’s Cello Concerto with the Bamberg Symphony under the direction of Sebastian Tewinkel the following year (Sony 2012). Further recordings have included Richard Strauss’ major cello works with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra under Bernard Haitink (Sony 2014) and Joseph Haydn’s cello concertos with the Kammerakademie Potsdam under Antonello Manacorda (Sony 2015). In 2017, Deutsche Grammophon released a highly acclaimed recording of Schubert’s Trout Quintet with Anne-Sophie Mutter and Daniil Trifonov amongst others. Further recordings were released on Genuin, Linn Records, NEOS, Bridge Records and CPO.

Maximilian Hornung, born 1986 in Augsburg, began taking cello lessons at the age of eight. The teachers with whom he has studied most intensely are Eldar Issakadze, Thomas Grossenbacher and David Geringas. As cellist of the Tecchler Trio, in which he played until 2011, he won the First Prize of the ARD Music Competition in 2007. At the age of only 23, he became first principal cellist of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and held this position until 2013. Maximilian Hornung has been supported and sponsored by the Anne-Sophie Mutter Circle of Friends Foundation and Borletti-Buitoni Trust London.