Bryan Cheng
Canadian-born, Berlin-based cellist Bryan Cheng has established himself as one of the leading musicians of his generation, acclaimed for both the “incredible intensity and urgency” (Tagesspiegel) and “otherworldly intimacy” (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung) of his playing.
He is the only prizewinner of both the Queen Elisabeth and Geneva International Music Competitions in the last 40 years.
Recent and forthcoming highlights include debuts with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe (with Sir András Schiff), Iceland Symphony Orchestra (with Bar Avni), hr-Sinfonieorchester Frankfurt (with Erina Yashima), NDR Radiophilharmonie Hannover and Musikkollegium Winterthur (both with Michael Sanderling), a return to Deutsches Symphonieorchester Berlin (with Catherine Larsen-Maguire) as well as his debut at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw with the Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava and Daniel Raiskin.
An advocate of new and contemporary music, Bryan Cheng gave the world premiere of Samy Moussa's „Ring“, a piece written for him and co-commissioned by the Hiroshima Symphony Orchestra, with the National Arts Centre Orchestra under Teddy Abrams, and performs Mason Bates' Cello Concerto with orchestras across the United States.
Equally passionate about chamber music, Bryan Cheng recently returned to Carnegie Hall with Kirill Gerstein and colleagues from the Kronberg Academy, collaborated with Karen Gomyo at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Copenhagen, and appears regularly at leading festivals including Verbier, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Schleswig-Holstein, Heidelberger Frühling and Beethovenfest Bonn.
Bryan Cheng is the co-founder of two chamber ensembles: Cheng² Duo with his sister Silvie, with whom he tours regularly throughout Canada and the United States and will make an Irish debut tour in the 2026/27 season, and CelloFellos with Leonard Disselhorst, presenting imaginative programmes ranging from Balkan folk to tango. He also returns to Wigmore Hall with frequent collaborators, the vision string quartet, performing the Schubert quintet from memory.
Bryan Cheng has released three critically acclaimed albums on the German label audite: „Russian Legends“ (2019), „Violonchelo del fuego“ (2018), and „Violoncelle français“ (2016). His latest recital album, „Portrait“ (2023), released on Centrediscs and featuring commissioned works and his own arrangements by composers of diverse Asian heritage, was nominated for two JUNO Awards.
Bryan Cheng is the first cellist to receive the Prix Yves Paternot, awarded to the Verbier Festival Academy's most promising and accomplished musician, and the 2023 recipient of the Canada Council for the Arts' Virginia Parker Prize, Canada's highest honour for young classical musicians.
A graduate of the Kronberg Academy and Universität der Künste Berlin, he plays a Montagnana-model cello made in 2025 by Mira Gruszow and Gideon Baumblatt.
