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The German cellist and conductor, Stephan Schultz, began playing the cello when he was 7 years old. He took lessons from Anna Niebuhr before beginning his studies at the Leipzig Music School in 1989 from which he graduated in 1996. At the time, he already showed interest in interpreting early music and studied the Baroque cello with Jaap ter Linden at the Academy of Early Music in Dresden.
Eager to develop early music interpretation with period instruments, Stephan Schultz founded in 1995, along with fellow musicians, the Leipziger Barockorchester (LBO). He significantly contributed to its reputation, and remains their first cellist to this day. Concerts with De Profundis, La Stravaganza Köln, Il Gardellino and the European Union Baroque Orchestra brought him to great European concert halls such as the Konzerthaus Wien, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, the Auditorio Nacional in Madrid and the Berliner Philharmonie concert hall, as well as in Japan and different music festivals in France.
Stephan Schultz has performed under the direction of Reinhard Goebel, Roy Goodman, Thomaskantor Georg Christoph Biller, Peter Schreier, to name a few, and with Masaaki Suzuki, Peter Kooy, Emma Kirkby, Nancy Argenta, Harry van der Kamp. He took part in numerous recordings and has been invited by festivals such as Resonanzen Wien, Festival van Vlaanderen Brugge, Schleswig Holstein Musik Festival, Rheingau Musik Festival, MDR-Musiksommer, Bachfest Leipzig.
In 1999 Stephan Schultz founded with Peter Kooy the De Profundis ensemble meant to accompany singers on period instruments out of loyalty to the original works. Playing the continuo is close to his heart, which is why he teaches to young cellists and gives master-classes.
Stephan Schultz has been living in France since 2005 and is currently the Artistic Co-director (with Anne-Catherine Bucher) for the early music ensemble Le Concert Lorrain with whom he has recorded the last pieces of Madin and Clérambault for K617 recording label. In November 2007, this recording of the “Petits Motets” by Henry Madin obtained the French “Diapason d’Or” (Gold Tuning Fork) award in the category new discoveries. |
