Sebastian Fritsch

Born in Stuttgart in 1996, Sebastian Fritsch has won prizes in numerous German and international competitions. His achievements include winning the prestigious Deutscher Musikwettbewerb and audience prize as well as 1st prize in the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy University Competition in 2019, and 1st prize in the 2018 TONALi cello competition. Here, he was also awarded the audience prize, the Mariinsky special prize and the Saltarello special prize. In 2020/2021 he won 2nd prize at the International George Enescu Competition.

Fritsch began his studies in 2014 with Jean-Guihen Queyras at Freiburg University of Music, and from 2018 continued them in the cello class of Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt at the Franz Liszt University of Music in Weimar.

Wen-Sinn Yang, Jens Peter Maintz, David Geringas, Ivan Monighetti and Frans Helmerson have all been an important source of inspiration for the cellist. In addition, he works closely with his teacher of many years, Lisa Neßling, and holds a scholarship from the International Academy of Music in Liechtenstein.

As a soloist, Fritsch has already performed with orchestras such as the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra in St Petersburg, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Konzerthausorchester Berlin and the Nürnberger Symphoniker at venues including Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie, Stuttgart’s Liederhalle and Konzerthaus Berlin. He has been a guest at festivals such as Cello Biënnale Amsterdam, Rheingau Musikfestival, Festspiele Mecklenburg Vorpommern, Salzburg Festival and the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival. A passionate chamber musician, in 2010 he founded the Stuttgarter Kammerduo together with violinist Rosa Neßling. Concert engagements both in Germany and abroad, along with a prize in the 2019 International Anton Rubinstein Competition, attest to the artistic calibre of the ensemble. Sebastian Fritsch plays a cello by Thorsten Theis made in 2015.

Since 2022, Sebastian Fritsch is one of three concert masters of the cellists at Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden. He plays a cello made by Thorsten Theis in 2016, which was made available to him by the Karl Schlecht Foundation.

Since October 2020, he has been studying at Kronberg Academy with Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt. His studies are funded by the Arpeggione patronage.