Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra Appoints First Principal Cellist

Valentino Worlitzsch assumed this role at the beginning of the ensemble’s 2020/21 season

Worlitzsch previously served as principal cellist of the Frankfurt Radio Symphony ((HR-Sinfonieorchester) from 2018 to 2020.

His top prize-winning performances included those in the International Music Competition "Pacem in Terris," the Grand Prix Emanuel Feuermann in Berlin, and the Leoš Janáček International Competition. 

He was also a semi-finalist at Munich’s ARD International Music Competition and the International Tchaikovsky Competition. 

Born in Hanover in 1989, he received his first cello and piano lessons at the age of four. He studied with Bernhard Gmelin in Hamburg, Michel Strauss in Paris, and Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt in Weimar, where since 2015, held the role as Schmidt’s teaching assistant.

In addition to cello, he studied piano under Karl-Heinz Kämmerling and conducting with Nicolás Pasquet. As a chamber musician, he appears regularly with his duo partner, German pianist, Elisabeth Brauß.