Do you remember your first visit to the Musikverein? What impressions are associated with it?

In the second or third grade – I was at the music high school in Salzburg – we went to Vienna, and our music teacher planned a trip to the music club. We were allowed to attend a rehearsal, and it was immediately apparent that we all respected this space. It wasn’t so much about the rehearsal, but rather we experienced this atmosphere, this history – you felt that this was an important, special place. And when I studied in Vienna at 18, I was constantly in the standing room. I still love these places and have many wonderful memories in this house.

In the meantime, you have performed in the various halls of the house yourself. In the 2025/26 season, you will be coming to the Musikverein as an artist in focus with two chamber music programmes, among other things. What does chamber music mean to you?

I grew up with chamber music. My father is a cellist in the Hagen Quartet, and my first concert experience was chamber music. For me, it’s natural to play chamber music: When you’ve found a group of people who harmonize and understand each other blindly, there’s so much trust that you can make music freely – that’s the best thing. This only exists in chamber music.

You perform at the Musikverein with Igor Levit and Sir András Schiff. What do you appreciate about these prominent partners?

With Igor, everything is always very spontaneous and in the moment, and he is incredibly sensitive and quick to react. This creates wonderful moments even without many rehearsals. We’ve played together a lot over the years: It’s very familiar and natural and also very easy to make music with him. I found both Igor Levit and András Schiff admirable, whether it was me or other young musicians: they treated you as an equal colleague right from the start. I got to know András Schiff when I was studying at Kronberg Academy. He is such an educated, intellectual person, and at the same time he manages to play so emotionally. That is a rare combination. The fact that we are now playing the Mendelssohn sonata together, which I had lessons with him years ago, is incredibly beautiful.

As an artist in focus, Antonín Dvořák’s cello concerto with the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra under Jakub Hrůša is also on the programme for you.

I haven’t worked with Jakub Hrůša before, but he is the ideal cast: as a Czech, he knows this music inside out. And of course this piece: even in the first orchestral tutti, before I start playing as a soloist, it contains the most beautiful melodies and themes. I think that the Dvořák cello concerto is like great chamber music because there is so much communication between the solo instrument and the orchestra.

It is said that you hid in your father’s cello case as a child. Did you have any idea back then that the cello would later become your instrument?

I didn’t think that far back then. But you can see: It was a very playful approach. My parents never really locked away their instruments, they always allowed us four children to handle them naturally – they taught us that they were valuable and that we had to take care of them, but without making them too sacred. The cello was always there, and the cello case was a very good hiding place. Maybe that’s why I liked the instrument so much.