Benedict Kloeckner, born in 1989, has won numerous competitions and awards, most recently the OPUS Klassik 2021.

He is one of the outstanding artists of his generation. He performs worldwide as a soloist with renowned orchestras such as the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra London, the German Radio Philharmonic, the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, the NDR Radio Philharmonic, the MDR Symphony Orchestra, the German State Philharmonic, the Kremerata Baltica, the Camerata Oslo and the Munich Chamber Orchestra and works with them renowned conductors such as Daniel Barenboim, Christoph Eschenbach, Ingo Metzmacher, Michael Sanderling, Clemens Schuldt, Heinrich Schiff and Sir Simon Rattle.

He has made guest appearances in concert halls such as the Berlin Philharmonic, Carnegie Hall New York, Kennedy Center Washington, Symphony Hall Chicago, Arts Center Seoul, Suntory Hall Tokyo, Musikverein Vienna, Gewandhaus Leipzig, Tonhalle Zurich, Gasteig in Munich, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the Rudolfinum Prague, the Athenaeum Bucharest and the Barbican, Cadogan and Wigmore Hall London.

In the 2022/2023 season he played all 6 Bach suites in the Berlin Philharmonie and the Alte Oper in Frankfurt. In the 2022/2023 season he will again be a guest at the Berlin Philharmonie, both in a recital with Anna Fedorova and as a soloist in Dvorak’s Cello Concerto with the Portuguese National Orchestra.

Again he plays in the Kennedy Center Washington, this time a world premiere of a new cello concerto by José Elizondo, and gives his debut in the Philharmonie Paris, as well as the Cologne Philharmonie.

 He also plays with the Romanian Chamber Orchestra conducted by Cristian Macelaru, the Orchester Dijon Bourgogne conducted by Joseph Bastian, the Filarmonica di Teatro communale di Modena conducted by Henrik Nanasi, the Georgian Chamber Orchestra conducted by Daniel Raiskin, the Panamerican Symphony Orchestra, the Brasov Philharmonic Orchestra and is on tour in Japan and South Africa. There he will premiere a new cello concerto by Bongani Ndodana-Breen together with the Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra.

Benedict Kloeckner is a welcome guest at festivals around the world. His chamber music partners have included Emanuel Ax, Lisa Batiashvili, Yuri Bashmet, Christoph Eschenbach, Vilde Frang, Gidon Kremer, Anne Sophie Mutter and Sir András Schiff.

Benedict Kloeckner works regularly with the great contemporary composers of our time. In 2018 he premiered Wolfgang Rihm’s double concerto for 2 cellos and strings.

Together with the Korean Chamber Orchestra under the baton of Christoph Poppen, he premiered Eun Hwa Cho’s Cello Concerto at the Seoul Arts Center. With the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg under Peter Tilling, he also performed the Austrian premiere of Dai Fujikura’s cello concerto in Salzburg.

In 2020 he premiered 7 works composed for him by Howard Blake, Elena Kats Chernin, José Elizondo, Dai Fujikura, Geoffrey Gordon, Bongani Ndodana-Breen and Eric Tanguy.

His CD recordings have been highly praised by the international press and have been nominated for the German Record Critics’ Award, among others. Recordings were made in collaboration with artists such as Gidon Kremer, the conductors Heinrich Schiff and Michael Sanderling, the pianists Danae Dörken, Anna Fedorova, Yu Kosuge, Mario Häring, Ragna Schirmer and José Gallardo, the violinists Kirill Troussov, Ragnhild Hemsing, and the Composers Wolfgang Rihm and Howard Blake.

Since 2014, Benedict Kloeckner has been artistic director of the Koblenz International Music Festival IMUKO.

Benedict Kloeckner received his artistic training from Prof. Martin Ostertag at the Karlsruhe University of Music, as well as from Prof. Frans Helmerson and Gary Hoffman at the Kronberg Academy, made possible by the Angela Winkler grant, and Prof. Michael Sanderling. He received important impulses and valuable support for his artistic development from Gidon Kremer, Steven Isserlis and Sir András Schiff.