Altenberg Trio Appoints New Cellist

Hungarian cellist Peter Somodari will join violinist Ziyu He and pianist Christopher Hinterhuber

The Vienna-based Altenberg Trio has appointed Peter Somodari as its new cellist. Somodari, the principal cellist of the Wiener Philharmoniker, will replace Christoph Stadner, who is the principal cellist of the Wiener Symphoniker.

Born in Hungary, Somodari studied at Budapest's Franz Liszt Academy of Music with László Mezö, Miklós Perényi, György Kurtàg, and Ferenc Rados. Prior to his appointment in Vienna, Somodari was the principal cellist of the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra.

He was also previously in the Budapest Strings Chamber Orchestra, where he appeared regularly as a soloist. Somodari has been a member of the Keller Quartett and the Amar Quartet. Somodari is currently a visiting professor at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna.

The Altenberg Trio was founded in 1994 and named in honor of the Viennese poet Peter Altenberg. It is famed for its "Viennese" sound, a feature that has continued despite personnel changes to the group.

The ensemble underwent a major change in 2012 when pianist Christopher Hinterhuber and cellist Christoph Stradner replaced Claus-Christian Schuster and Alexander Gebert. In 2018, violinist Ziyu He succeeded founding violinist Amiram Ganz.

The group is currently Trio-in-Residence at Vienna’s Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde, also known as the Musikverein, where they play regular concerts.