Jens Peter Maintz

Jens Peter Maintz enjoys an international reputation as soloist, chamber musician and teacher. Born in Hamburg, he studied with David Geringas and won First Prize at the 1994 ARD International Music Competition—the first cellist in 17 years to receive the award. He has appeared as soloist with orchestras including the Berlin Radio Symphony, Leipzig MDR Symphony, Stuttgart Radio Symphony, Den Haag Residentie Orkest and Tokyo Symphony, working with conductors such as Ashkenazy, Blomstedt, Janowski, Welser-Möst and McFerrin.

A former principal cello of the Deutsche Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Maintz has been principal cello of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra since 2006. He is also an acclaimed chamber musician, performing with Janine Jansen, Isabelle Faust, Hélène Grimaud, Antoine Tamestit and the Artemis, Carmina and Auryn Quartets. With Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt, he founded the duo Cello Duello, celebrated at leading festivals worldwide.

His recordings include an ECHO Klassik–winning solo disc (Bach, Dutilleux, Kodály) and Haydn concertos with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen. Maintz is Professor of Cello at Berlin University of the Arts and the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía in Madrid. He plays the ‘Ex-Servais’ cello by Giovanni Grancino (1697).