Bryan Cheng
Following recent prize-winning successes at some of the world’s most prestigious international competitions, including Queen Elisabeth, Concours de Genève, and Paulo, Canadian-born, Berlin-based cellist Bryan Cheng has established himself as one of the most compelling young artists on the classical music scene.
He made his sold-out Carnegie Hall recital debut at age 14, his Elbphilharmonie debut aged 20 with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen (Joshua Weilerstein), and in 2022, he was the first cellist to be awarded the coveted Prix Yves Paternot in recognition of the Verbier Festival Academy’s most promising and accomplished musician. He is the 2023 recipient of the Canada Council for the Arts’ Virginia Parker Prize, the nation’s highest honour for young musicians.
Recent highlights include his debut with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin at the Berliner Philharmonie in the „Debüt im Deutschlandfunk Kultur“ series (other noted artists who performed in this series at the beginning of their career include Sir Simon Rattle, Daniel Barenboim, Jacqueline Du Pré, Cecilia Bartoli, Isabelle Faust, Evgeny Kissin, Santtu-Matias Rouvali, Daniel Hope, Renaud Capuçon, etc.), returns to the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal and the National Arts Centre Orchestra Ottawa, among others.
Upcoming debuts include the NDR Radiophilharmonie Hannover with Michael Sanderling, Orchestre Métropolitain with Louis Langrée, hr-Sinfonieorchester Frankfurt, Bochumer Symponiker, Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava, Greensboro Symphony Orchestra, Symphony Orchestra of India, Romanian National Symphony Orchestra, as well as returns to the Johannesburg Philharmonic, Cape Town Philharmonic, Winnipeg Symphony, and I Musici de Montréal chamber orchestra, premiering a brand- new double concerto by Denis Gougeon.
In the 2023/24 concert season, Bryan Cheng is Artist-in-Residence of the “Banatul” Philharmonic Orchestra of Timisoara, Romania, presenting several symphonic and chamber concerts in the frame of the city’s 2023 European Capital of Culture season. He takes on the same role at Switzerland’s Week-End Musical de Pully 2024, featuring both of his duos in addition to performing as soloist in Gulda’s Cello Concerto.
Bryan Cheng has appeared with orchestras such as the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the Helsinki Philharmonic, Brussels Philharmonic, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra, Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, Tapiola Sinfonietta, and with esteemed conductors such as Stéphane Denève, Susanna Mälkki, Alpesh Chauhan, Matthias Pintscher, Dalia Stasevska, Christian Arming, Giordano Bellincampi, Jonathan Darlington and Laurence Equilbey.
As member of the Cheng² Duo, CelloFellos, and as chamber musician, Bryan performs extensively across the globe. He has had the privilege of working with partners such as Gidon Kremer, Lars Vogt, Christian Tetzlaff, Angela Hewitt, Till Fellner, Viviane Hagner and Antje Weithaas.
Recital highlights include performances at the Verbier Festival with Sir András Schiff and cellist Alban Gerhardt, at the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Berliner Philharmonie’s Kammermusiksaal, Schleswig-Holstein Musikfestival, Heidelberger Frühling, Beethovenfest Bonn, Kronberg’s Casals Forum, Brussels’ Flagey, Chamberfest Cleveland, Rockport Chamber Music Festival, Millersville University,Vancouver Recital Society, Banff International String Quartet Festival,Toronto’s Walter Hall, Orford Musique, Halifax’s Cecilia Concert Series, Montréal Salle Bourgie, Kingston’s Isabel Bader Centre, and tours in Canada, the USA, Switzerland, Belgium, and South Africa.
Bryan has released a trilogy of critically-acclaimed albums on German classical label audite: Russian Legends (2019), Violonchelo del fuego (2018), and Violoncelle français (2016), and his newest album Portrait on Centrediscs, featuring commissioned works and own arrangements by composers of diverse Asian heritage, was released in October 2023.
Bryan plays the “Dubois” Antonio Stradivarius cello, Cremona, 1699 graciously provided to him by Canimex Inc. from Drummondville (Québec). He is a recipient of the Deutschlandstipendium and has been supported by the Sylva Gelber Music Foundation with generous multiyear scholarships. He received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the Universität der Künste Berlin and is now enrolled in the Professional Studies program at Germany’s Kronberg Academy, in the studio of Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt.
