Bryan Cheng

Following recent prize-winning successes at some of the world’s most prestigious international competitions, including Queen Elisabeth, Concours de Genève, and Paulo, Canadian-born, Berlin-based cellist Bryan Cheng has established himself as one of the most compelling young artists on the classical music scene.

He made his sold-out Carnegie Hall recital debut at age 14, his Elbphilharmonie debut aged 20 with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, and in 2022 was the first cellist to be awarded the coveted Prix Yves Paternot in recognition of the Verbier Festival Academy’s most promising and accomplished musician. He is the 2023 recipient of the Canada Council for the Arts’ Virginia Parker Prize, the nation’s highest honour for young musicians.

Recent highlights include his debut with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin at the Berliner Philharmonie in the „Debüt im Deutschlandfunk Kultur“ series (other noted artists who performed in this series at the beginning of their careers include Sir Simon Rattle, Daniel Barenboim, Jacqueline du Pré, Cecilia Bartoli, Isabelle Faust, Evgeny Kissin, Santtu-Matias Rouvali, Renaud Capuçon, etc.), debuts with the Slovak and Calgary Philharmonic Orchestras, returns to the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal and the National Arts Centre Orchestra Ottawa, among others.

Upcoming major debuts include the NDR Radiophilharmonie Hannover (Michael Sanderling), Orchestre Métropolitain (Louis Langrée), hr-Sinfonieorchester Frankfurt (Erina Yashima), BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra, Bochumer Symphoniker, Stuttgart Kammerorchester, Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava, Orquesta Reino de Aragón, Greensboro Symphony Orchestra, Presidential Symphony Orchestra Ankara, Romanian National Symphony Orchestra at Choriner Musiksommer, as well as returns to the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Cape Town Philharmonic, Johannesburg Philharmonic, Symphony Orchestra of India, Winnipeg Symphony, and I Musici de Montréal chamber orchestra, premiering a brand-new double concerto by Denis Gougeon.

In the 2023/24 and 2024/25 concert seasons, Bryan Cheng is Artist-in-Residence of the “Banatul” Philharmonic Orchestra of Timisoara, Romania, presenting several symphonic and chamber concerts in the frame of the city’s 2023 European Capital of Culture season. He takes on the same role at Switzerland's Week-End Musical de Pully 2024, featuring both of his duos in addition to performing as soloist in Gulda's Cello Concerto.

Bryan Cheng has appeared with orchestras such as the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the Helsinki Philharmonic, Brussels Philharmonic, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra, Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, Tapiola Sinfonietta, and with esteemed conductors such as Stéphane Denève, Martyn Brabbins, Susanna Mälkki, Alpesh Chauhan, Matthias Pintscher, Dalia Stasevska, Christian Arming, Yan-Pascal Tortelier, Giordano Bellincampi, Jonathan Darlington and Laurence Equilbey.

As member of the Cheng² Duo, CelloFellos, and as chamber musician, Bryan performs extensively across the globe. He has had the privilege of working with partners such as Gidon Kremer, Lars Vogt, Christian Tetzlaff, Angela Hewitt, Till Fellner, Viviane Hagner and Antje Weithaas.

Forthcoming recital highlights include performances with Sir András Schiff at the Verbier Festival and Wigmore Hall, debuts at the Schleswig-Holstein Musikfestival, Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Kronberg Festival, Chamberfest Cleveland, Rockport Chamber Music Festival, Banff International String Quartet Festival, and returns to Heidelberger Frühling, Beethovenfest Bonn, Ottawa Chamberfest, Montréal’s Salle Bourgie, Toronto’s Walter Hall, Halifax’s Cecilia Concert Series, Kingston’s Isabel Bader Centre, Chamberfest Cheboygan, and Festival of the Sound.

Bryan has released a trilogy of critically-acclaimed albums on German label audite—Russian Legends (2019), Violonchelo del fuego (2018), and Violoncelle français (2016), and his newest recital album Portrait (2023) on Centrediscs, featuring commissioned works and own arrangements by composers of diverse Asian heritage, was nominated for 2 JUNO awards.

Bryan plays the “Dubois” Antonio Stradivarius cello, Cremona, 1699 graciously provided to him by Canimex Inc. from Drummondville (Québec). He is a recipient of the Deutschlandstipendium and has been supported by the Sylva Gelber Music Foundation with generous multiyear scholarships. He received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the Universität der Künste Berlin.

Since 2023, he has been studying at the Kronberg Academy, initially with Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt, made possible by the Barbara Dettmer, Dr. Dorothee and Christian Storch Patronage; since the 2025/26 academic year, he has been a member of Frans Helmerson’s class.