Paris' Alfred Cortot School of Music Appoints VC Artist Cellist Benedict Kloeckner

Kloeckner will join the school's faculty from September 2025

Born in Germany in 1989, cellist Benedict Kloeckner will become a faculty cellist at Alfred Cortot School of Music, in Paris, France. He joins cellists Hélène Dautry, Henri Demarquette, Sébastien Hurtaud, Anssi Karttunen, Julie Sévilla Fraysse, and Astrig Siranossian, on the faculty.

"Feeling honoured to teach at the same institution as Pablo Casals and Olivier Messiaen," said Kloeckner wrote social media.

Kloeckner has performed with orchestras such as the Royal Philharmonic, German Radio Philharmonic Orchestras, the NDR and Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestras, and the Kremerata Baltica, among others.

He has been championed by conductors such as Daniel Barenboim and Sir Simon Rattle, he has performed at venues including the Berlin Philharmonic Hall, Carnegie Hall in New York, Symphony Hall in Chicago, the Kennedy Center in Washington, Tonhalle Zurich, Cadogan Hall, and the Barbican Centre in London, etc.

As a musician, Benedict has performed with artists such as Emanuel Ax, Yuri Bashmet, Danae Dörken, Christoph Eschenbach, Anna Fedorova, Gidon Kremer, Anne Sophie Mutter, Antoine Tamestit, the Carducci String Quartet, and Sir Andras Schiff.

He is a prize winner at the European Broadcasting Union Award in Bratislava, the Grand Prix Emanuel Feuermann cello competition in Berlin, the Animato International Soloist Competition in Zurich, the “Nicolas Firmenich Prize” of the Verbier Festival (CH), and the “First Manhattan International Music Competition New York.” He also received the “European Culture Prize” from the European Culture Foundation.

Kloeckner regularly collaborates with contemporary composers, including Eric Tanguy, Wolfgang Rihm, and Howard Blake – the latter composed a cello sonata for him.

His recording catalog includes a highly acclaimed recording of Robert Schumann’s cello concerto, nominated for the German Record Critics prize, and collaborations with Gidon Kremer, conductors Heinrich Schiff and Michael Sanderling, pianists José Gallardo and Anna Fedorova, and the composer and pianist Howard Blake. In 2023, he released a CD with Brahms Cello Sonatas with YU Kosuge on Sony.

Since September 2014, Kloeckner has served as the artistic director and founder of the “International Music Festival Koblenz” (IMUKO).

He studied with Martin Ostertag, and has received mentorship from Steven Isserlis, Gidon Kremer, Michael Sanderling, and Sir András Schiff. From 2009 to 2016, Benedict studied at the Kronberg Academy with Frans Helmerson and Gary Hoffman, funded by the Angela Winkler Scholarship.