Leonard Elschenbroich and Alexei Grynyuk
Cello and Piano
Described by the New York Times as “a musician of great technical prowess, intellectual curiosity and expressive depth”, cellist Leonard Elschenbroich has performed as a soloist with the world’s leading orchestras.
He gave his Vienna Musikverein debut on a European Tour with the Staatskapelle Dresden, his US debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, his Asian debut at Suntory Hall in Tokyo, and appeared five times at the Royal Albert Hall for the BBC Proms.
A committed performer of contemporary music, Elschenbroich has commissioned several new works from composers including Mark-Anthony Turnage, Luca Lombardi, Arlene Sierra and Suzanne Farrin. He gave the world premiere of Mark Simpson’s first Cello Concerto – written for him – with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra at Bridgewater Hall, and Brian Elias’ first Cello Concerto at the BBC Proms.
In 2012 he co-founded the Orquesta Filarmonica de Bolivia, the first orchestra to perform a Mahler Symphony in the nation’s history. Elschenbroich returns to Bolivia on a regular basis to lead educational projects and develop the orchestra. This commitment led Elschenbroich to explore the field of conducting with various orchestras across Latin America and the UK. He gave his London conducting debut, leading The Telegraph to write “Elschenbroich gave a performance of Brahms’ 1st Symphony that at times touched the heights.”
Elschenbroich has worked with a number of eminent conductors including Semyon Bychkov, Christoph Eschenbach, Sir Mark Elder, Charles Dutoit, Manfred Honeck, Kirill Karabits, Dmitri Kitajenko, Andrew Litton, Juanjo Mena, Yan-Pascal Tortelier, Vasily Sinasiky, and Edo De Waart. As soloist he has performed with the London Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, BBC Symphony, Royal Liverpool Phiharmonic, Hallé, Bournemouth Symphony, WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne, Konzerthaus Orchester Berlin, Dresden Staatskapelle, Swedish Radio Symphony, Vienna Tonkünstler Orchestra, Basel Symphony Orchestra, Stavanger Symphony, St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Netherlands Philharmonic, Residentie Orchestra, Nagoya Philharmonic, Japan Philharmonic, New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra Washington, Pacific Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra and Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
Elschenbroich’s first three albums for Onyx Classics focused on 20th century Russian repertoire, from Rachmaninov to Schnittke. 2016 saw the release of “Siécle”, a portrait of a century of French music from Saint-Saëns to Dutilleux, recorded with the BBC Scottish Symphony. They have received 5-star reviews from The Telegraph, The Guardian, The Financial Times, as well as receiving Editor’s Choice in Gramophone. This year, after a decade worldwide performances together with Alexei Grynyuk, Onyx Classics released their recording of the complete Beethoven Cello Sonatas. The album received wide critical acclaim, including Editor’s Choice in Gramophone, Album of the Month in BBC Music Magazine, and is also available on vinyl.
His many awards include the Leonard Bernstein Award, Förderpreis Deutschlandfunk and Borletti Buitoni Trust Award. In 2012 he was named BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist, he was Artist-in-Residence of Deutschlandfunk for the 2014-15 season, and Artist-in-Residence at the Philharmonic Society Bremen from 2013-2016.
Born in 1985 in Frankfurt, Elschenbroich received a scholarship, aged ten, to study at the Yehudi Menuhin School in London. He later studied with Frans Helmerson at the Cologne Music Academy.
He plays a cello made by Matteo Goffriller “Ex-Leonard Rose-Ex-Alfredo Piatti’ (Venice, 1693), on private loan.
British-Ukrainian pianist Alexei Grynyuk performs throughout the world appearing in the most prestigious concert halls and music festivals. He has performed recitals at the Verbier Music Festival in Switzerland, Newport Music Festival in USA, “Musical Kremlin” Festival in Moscow, Duszniki Chopin Festival in Poland, International Keyboard Festival in New York among many others. The venues include Wigmore Hall and the South Bank Centre in London, Salle Cortot and Salle Gaveau in Paris, Great Hall of Moscow Conservatoire, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.
Alexei has displayed tremendous interest in music from early childhood and started performing at the age of six. At thirteen he attracted wide attention by winning First prize at the Dyagilev All-Soviet-Union piano competition. He went on to win many prizes, notably first prizes at the Horowitz International Piano Competition in Kiev, Shanghai International Piano Competition in China.
His musical development was shaped by his studies at the Kiev Conservatoire under Natalia Gridneva and Valery Kozlov. He refined his studies with Hamish Milne at the Royal Academy of Music in London. Later he was awarded Associate of the Royal Academy of Music
(ARAM) and served as a jury member at the Benjamin Britten International Violin Competition London and the prestigious “Vendome Prize” International Piano Competition.
Being a passionate chamber musician, Alexei Grynyuk is part of a piano trio with his regular partners violinist Nicola Benedetti and cellist Leonard Elschenbroich. Described by The Telegraph as “A trio of True Stars” together they have toured the world extensively in the past decade performing at the Royal Albert Hall London, Birmingham Symphony Hall, LSO St. Luke’s, Frankfurt Alte Oper, 92Y New York, Gardner Museum Boston as well as festival appearances at BBC Proms, Ravinia, Gergiev, Istanbul, Cheltenham and Edinburgh International.
