profile

He gained instant recognition after winning the International Tchaikovsky Competition in 2015. He has also achieved outstanding results in numerous competitions, including first place at the Aram Khachaturian International Cello Competition in 2013, and second place at the Munich International Music Competition and the Emanuel Feuermann International Cello Competition in 2014. He was selected as a BBC New Generation Artist from 2016 to 2018, and will serve as the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra's Artist in Residence for the 2019/2020 season.
The 2019/20 season will see numerous orchestral debuts, including appearances with the Philharmonia Orchestra under Gergely Madaras, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra under Elena Schwarz, the Dresden Philharmonic under Krzysztof Penderecki, the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra under Marta Gardolinska, the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra under Cristian Vázquez, the Orchestre National de Belgium under Cristian Macelaru, the Russian National Orchestra under Mikhail Pletnev, the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra under Ion Marin, and the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra under Ward Steer.
Recent highlights include appearances with the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra under Valery Gergiev, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra under Kent Nagano, the BBC Philharmonic under Omer Meir Werber and Jon Storgårds, the Danish National Symphony Orchestra under Christian Krugsen, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra under Karl-Heinz Steffens, the San Diego Symphony Orchestra under Case Scaglione, the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra under Sylvain Cambreling, and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales under Einars Roubikis.
He has given recitals at venues including Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, Berlin Konzerthaus, Hamburg Elbphilharmonie, Zurich Tonhalle, LAC Lugano Cultural Center, and Barcelona Auditorium. He has also appeared at major festivals, including Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Schleswig-Holstein, Verbier, and Martha Argerich. Upcoming chamber music appearances include Wigmore Hall and the Pierre Boulez Saal, alongside Stephen Hough, Cédric Tiberghien, and Kian Soltani. His debut album for Orchid Classics, "Works for Solo Cello," features world premiere recordings of works by Bach and Kodály, as well as Brett Dean. Gramophone magazine praised the album, calling him "a cellist of exceptional talent, abundant imagination, and profound commitment to contemporary music."
Born in Bucharest, Romania in 1994. He began studying piano at the age of five and began studying cello three years later. After studying under Ani-Marie Paradis at the Sava Music School in Bucharest, he continued his studies with Jens-Peter Mainz at the University of the Arts in Berlin. He plays a Giovanni Battista Rogeri cello (1671) on loan from the German Music Foundation.