About Me
Claudio Bohórquez has been acclaimed by conductors, fellow musicians, audiences and critics as one of the most exciting and fascinating young artists of his generation. Described by Richard Dyer of The Boston Globe as "naturally, genuinely, and entirely musical...[with] an astonishing gift for the instrument, comparable maybe even to the young Yo-Yo Ma," Bohórquez has appeared as soloist with an impressive array of international orchestras and conductors, in solo recitals, chamber music projects and festivals, and in collaborations with a wide spectrum of visual and performing artists in special multimedia projects.
Mr. Bohórquez first garnered international attention after receiving the First Prize at the 1995 Geneva International Music Competition and winning the first International Casals Competition in Germany in 2000. As winner of the special award for chamber music at the Casals Competition, he was granted use of Maestro Casals famed Gofriller cello for several years. Other major competition credits include the first prize at Czech Radio's Concertino Praga, the Youth Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, the International Rostropovich Competition in Paris, the International Cello Competition in Scheveningen, Holland, and the Prix Davidoff at the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival. By invitation, he became a member of BBC Radio 3's New Generation Artists program in 2002.
Mr. Bohórquez's recent U.S. performances include appearances with the Boston Symphony, the Chicago Symphony, the Detroit Symphony, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the National Symphony and the Philadelphia Orchestra. In Europe, he has performed with the Orchestre de Paris, Zürich's Tonhalle Orchestra, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Munich Symphony Orchestra, the Dresden Staatskapelle, the NDR Symphony Orchestra Hamburg, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio-France. In Japan, he has given concerts with both the NHK Symphony (including two nationally televised concerts) and the Tokyo Philharmonic. He has collaborated with such eminent conductors as Daniel Barenboim, Herbert Blomstedt, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Christoph Eschenbach, Hans Graf, Neemi Jarvi , Yakov Kreizberg, Sir Neville Marriner, Krzysztof Penderecki, Leonard Slatkin, and David Zinman.
Mr. Bohórquez's festival appearances include a performance at the Hollywood Bowl, return engagements at Tanglewood, the Ravinia Festival, the Meadowbrook Festival, and the Lockenhaus Festival, where he played with Gidon Kremer and Oleg Maisenberg. He has also participated in Mr. Kremer's "les museiques" in Basel, performed with Yuri Bashmet at the Alte Oper Frankfurt, and appeared at the Casals Festival in Puerto Rico, the City of London Festival and the Jerusalem International Chamber Music Festival.
Last season, Mr. Bohórquez made his debuts with the Vienna Symphony and the BBC Symphony, both under Krzysztof Penderecki, and with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra under Herbert Blomstedt. A featured soloist in the BBC NOW recital series in London, he also toured as a trio with the violinist Julia Fischer and pianist Markus Groh. During the 2004-2005 season, he will appear with the Orchestre de Paris and Berlin Staatskapelle with Christoph Eschenbach, and with the Bamberg Symphony and Orquesta Sinfonica del Principado de Asturias with Krzysztof Penderecki. He will also tour in recital with Markus Groh, and will make his debut with several American orchestras, including the Milwaukee Symphony, the New World Symphony, and the California Symphony.
Among other television and media appearances, Mr. Bohórquez performed the music of Paul Englishby on the soundtrack to the critically acclaimed film "Ten Minutes Older - The Cello," which was released internationally in 2002.
He has developed with the German painter Klaus-Peter Kirchner a performance/art presentation titled "Room for Pablo Casals." The piece pays homage to Casals by combining 14 of his quotations with music for solo cello, set in a theatrical setting featuring 14 lighted and colored columns designed by Mr. Kirschner (14 being a central number used by Bach in his compositions.) The work focuses on the distinguishing features of Casals' life and work such as freedom, democracy, exile, dignity, intuition, the cello and the six Bach Suites for solo cello. Audiences have been greatly moved by the overall impact of the words, sounds and images.
Claudio Bohórquez is of Peruvian and Uruguayan parentage but was born and raised in Germany. He lives in Berlin.
