Bernhard Naoki Hedenborg, Violoncello
Born in Salzburg, Austria, Bernhard started playing cello at the age of six.
When he played the Elgar’s Cello Concerto for Heinrich Schiff at the age of 13, Bernhard’s talent was immediately recognized by the great cellist, and he then went on to study with Schiff for almost ten years. Bernhard received further musical impulses from musicians such as G.Kurtag, F.Rados, G. Sebök as well as the Alban Berg and Amadeus Quartets.
Bernhard is a prize-winner of many national and international competitions, including the Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians in Moscow and the European Music Prize for Young Musicians in Oslo.
He performed as a soloist with the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, Cologne Radio Orchestra, Prague Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Metropolitan Orchestra, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra. He made his debut in the Golden hall of the Musikverein in Vienna with the Bavarian Radio Chamber Orchestra.
His chamber music partners included Mischa Maisky, Julian Rachlin, Konstantin Lifschitz, Piotr Andreszewski, Christiane Oelze and Joji Hattori. As a member of the Thomas Christian Ensemble he toured Europe and recorded chamber music transcriptions of works by Mahler, Bruckner and Debussy.
Bernhard Naoki is artistic director of the Kobe International Music Festival in Japan.
He has given masterclasses in Europe, India and Japan.