Born in November 1979 in Munich, the German-Brazilian violinist, Nicolas Koeckert, soon took up the family tradition of violin playing, receiving his first violin at age 6 from his grandfather. His passion for playing developed rapidly during lessons with the Russian violin teacher, Olga Voitova, between the ages of 11 and 15.
When he was 16, Nicolas began his studies at the Musikhochschule in Würzburg with Professor Grigori Zhislin. Since 1998, he has continued his studies at the Musikhochschule in Cologne with Professor Zakhar Bron, while performing regularly as an international soloist.
In 2001, Nicolas won First Prize at the International Violin Competition in Novosibirsk (Russia), where he also received Special Prize for the Best Performance of the Required Piece and the Cultural Prize of the City of Novosibirsk. He is the first German to win a top prize at the world famous International Tchaikovsky Violin Competition in Moscow in June 2002. In the same summer, he was awarded the Artist Promotion Prize of the Bavarian Government. In June 2003, he was a prize winner at the Montreal International Musical Competition (Canada), from which the semi-final and final rounds were shown as live broadcasts over the internet. In November 2003, Nicolas was awarded Second Prize at the International Liana Issakadze Violin Competition in St. Petersburg. Since 2004, he has had a scholarship from the Mozart-Society Dortmund.
Nicolas has played recitals and performed as a soloist with leading orchestras and renowned conductors in Germany, Austria, Denmark, France, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Russia, Uzbekistan, the Czech Republic, Georgia, Lithuania, Poland, Bulgaria, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Lebanon and Korea under conductors such as Sir Colin Davis, Lawrence Foster, Jonathan Nott, Saulius Sondeckis, Asher Fish, Ari Rasilainen, Christoph Poppen, Andris Nelsons, Vjekoslav Sutej, Carlos Miguel Prieto, Theodor Guschlbauer, Wojciech Rajski, among others. Orchestras have included the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, Russian National Symphony Orchestra, Symphony Orchestra of the Bavarian Radio, Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, KBS Symphony Orchestra, Korean Chamber Ensemble, Pusan Philharmonic Orchestra, Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra, Capella Istropolitana, Camerata Zürich, State Hermitage Orchestra, Munich Chamber Orchestra, State Philharmonic Orchestra Rheinland Pfalz, Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra, Polish Chamber Philharmonic, Georgian Chamber Orchestra, London Soloist Chamber Orchestra and Philharmonic Orchestra of the Nations.
For Bavarian Radio, Nicolas Koeckert has recorded the "Ballade" Sonata for solo violin No. 3 by Eugène Ysaÿe, Edward Grieg´s Sonata in C minor, the Sonata by Maurice Ravel, Valse-Scherzo op. 34 and Melody op.42 No.3 by Tchaikovsky, the Bartók Solo-Sonata and Antonio Bazzini's "Dance of the Goblins".
In December 2003, Nicolas recorded a CD for "Naxos" containing all Russian-Slavonic pieces by Kreisler. This CD was hailed as "the CD of the Month" June 2004 in Germany.
New recordings:
Szymanowski Violin Concerto with the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra for Bavarian Radio and I. Frolov Fantasy on the Themes from Gershwin´s opera "Porgy and Bess".
More information: www.nicolaskoeckert.com
