Benedict Kloeckner, born in 1989, is one of the most remarkable cellists of his generation. A laureate of numerous international competitions, he was awarded the 2021 OPUS Klassik. He performs as a soloist with prestigious orchestras such as the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London, the Deutsche Radiophilharmonie, NDR Radiophilharmonie, Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, Kremerata Baltica, MDR Symphony Orchestra, and the Munich Chamber Orchestra. His career has brought him into collaboration with renowned conductors including Daniel Barenboim, Christoph Eschenbach, Michael Sanderling, Ingo Metzmacher, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Cristian Măcelaru, and Sir Simon Rattle.
He has performed in some of the world’s most prestigious venues, including the Berlin Philharmonie, Carnegie Hall in New York, the Kennedy Center in Washington, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, the Musikverein in Vienna, Tonhalle in Zurich, and Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. 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 the artistic director of the International Music Festival Koblenz (IMUKO), which he founded. He opens the 2024–2025 season performing Haydn’s Cello Concerto under the baton of Raphaël Merlin, and will appear alongside Augustin Dumay, Lawrence Power, and Leon Botstein. He will make his debut in Budapest with András Keller and János Balázs at the Liszt Academy and will return to the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg and Concertgebouw Amsterdam.
His latest album, Dvořák, recorded with Cristian Măcelaru, the Romanian Chamber Orchestra, and Danae Dörken, was released in 2024 by Berlin Classics and has already surpassed 600,000 streams. The Strad magazine praised Kloeckner’s “addictive and sensual tone,” while Gramophone highlighted the “architectural sensitivity of Cristian Măcelaru and Benedict Kloeckner.”
A new recording of Elgar’s Cello Concerto with Cristian Măcelaru is set for release in 2026.
In 2023, his recording of Brahms’s Cello Sonatas with Yu Kosuge was released by Sony.
His discography also includes the complete Bach Cello Suites, which he performed at both the Berlin Philharmonie and the Alte Oper Frankfurt. His recordings, acclaimed by the press, have won prestigious awards such as the OPUS Klassik Award and the Supersonic Award.
Upcoming performances include Brahms’s Double Concerto at the Cologne Philharmonie with Kirill Troussov under Gabriel Bebeselea, Dvořák’s Cello Concerto at De Doelen in Rotterdam with Conrad van Alphen, a tour featuring Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 1 with Oscar Jockel, and Tan Dun’s “Crouching Tiger” Cello Concerto conducted by the composer himself.
A passionate advocate of contemporary music, Kloeckner collaborates closely with living composers and has premiered numerous works, including those by Wolfgang Rihm, Eun Hwa Cho, Eric Tanguy, and Dai Fujikura. He gave the Austrian premiere of Fujikura’s Cello Concerto with the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, and the world premiere of Eun Hwa Cho’s Cello Concerto at the Seoul Arts Center under Christoph Poppen.
Benedict Kloeckner studied at the University of Music in Karlsruhe with Martin Ostertag, and at the Kronberg Academy with Frans Helmerson and Gary Hoffman.
He performs on the “Ex Maurice Gendron” cello by Francesco Ruggeri (1680), generously on loan.