Biography

Jan Vogler, Violoncello

“Vogler’s intense and febri… Read Full Bio ↴Biography

Jan Vogler, Violoncello

“Vogler’s intense and febrile sound is restrained by classical discipline and enriched by a searching musical intelligence.” (New Yorker review of My Tunes)

“Vogler's bright, forthright tone and highly inflected manner acted like a much-needed beacon in the piece. In the expansive, marvelously pensive slow movement, he entranced the ear with long-held notes that began with a lack of vibrato that implied emotional nakedness, but sweetened in the final nanosecond with a bit of pulsing - just as your ears insisted on it.” (Philadelphia Inquirer)

Recognized for his “rapturously heartfelt” playing (Washington Post) Jan Vogler’s distinguished career has featured concerts with some of the world’s most pre-eminent conductors including Lorin Maazel, Fabio Luisi, Semyon Bychkov, David Robertson, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Manfred Honeck and Donald Runnicles and internationally renowned orchestras such as the New York Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, the Dresden Staatskapelle, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, the Cologne and Frankfurt Radio Orchestras, and the Vienna Symphony.

A passionate recitalist and chamber musician, he has performed extensively with pianists Louis Lortie, Hélène Grimaud, Martin Stadtfeld, with violinists Mira Wang and James Ehnes and soprano Angelica Kirschschlager.

With a strong classical foundation, Jan Vogler embraces the work of his contemporaries and welcomes the process of experimentation, expansion and refinement in his performance style. A dedicated champion of new music, he has recently premiered works by renowned composers Jörge Widmann, Tigran Mansurian with the WDR Sinfonieorchester conducted by Semyon Bychkov at the Cologne Triennale, John Harbison, with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Udo Zimmermann with the Bavarian Radio Orchestra.

New Recordings:
In June 2010 “My Tunes II” released on SONY Classical in Germany. A companion to My Tunes I, the CD continues Jan’s exploration of his favourite cello pieces and features works by Saint-Saens, Paganini, Fauré, Kreisler, Wagner and Piazzolla. In August, Jan joins the Bavarian Radio Orchestra for a release on their own label NEOS: “Neuerscheinungen” features Elliott Carter’s 2001 Cello Concerto and Udo Zimmermann’s 2009 Lieder von einer Insel.

Performances:
The summer of 2010 sees Jan rejoin Baiba and Lauma Skride for a recital in Dublin, in New York’s Central Park with The Knights, on tour with the Baltic Youth Orchestra culminating with a performance at the White Nights Festival in St. Petersburg, on tour with the Dresdner Kapellsolisten in Germany and at the Moritzburg Chamber Music Festival, of which Jan is also Artistic Director.
The 2010-2011 season features an ever-challenging balance of concerts and recitals in Europe and North America. Jan begins his season in Europe in recital with Hélène Grimaud followed by a concert tour of Germany with the New York-based ensemble The Knights led by Eric Jacobsen which features the Shostakovich Cello Concerto and Jimi Hendrix’s Machine Gun – recorded for the SONY label and released to critical acclaim in 2009. Jan then undertakes a second German tour, this time with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Lan Shui. Other European appearances will take him to Dresden, Berlin, Bucharest and Turin. In the US, he will be seen on stage in Fort Worth, New Orleans and Stamford.

Discography:
A prolific and multi-award-winning recording artist, Jan currently records exclusively for SONY Classical. His most recent CD releases demonstrate his versatility as a performer. J.S. Bach’s Gambensonaten with pianist Martin Stadfeld was released in November 2009, and two CDs with The Knights and Eric Jacobsen: New Worlds on which Jan performs Dvořák’s Silent Woods (March 2010) and Experience: Live from New York (June 2009), which includes Shostakovich’s famous Cello Concerto No. 1, a selection of his waltzes arranged for cello and orchestra, and Machine Gun, by Jimi Hendrix in a special arrangement for cello and orchestra. This live CD was recorded at Le Poisson Rouge, more famously known as the Village Gate, home to many Hendrix concerts.

Jan’s other releases for SONY Classical include the multiple award-winning (Choc – Le Monde de la Musique and the Diapason d’Or) “The Secrets of Dvořák’s cello concerto” with the New York Philharmonic conducted by David Robertson, My Tunes – a selection of short favourites for cello and orchestra, Concerti Brillanti featuring 18th century concertos, and TANGO! with the Moritzburg Festival Artists that spotlights the music of Astor Piazzolla.
His extensive discography also features Cello Concerti by Barber, Korngold, Bürger (Berlin Classics), Schumann and Fauré Piano Quintets (Sony Classical) with James Ehnes, Mira Wang, Naoko Shimizu and Louis Lortie and Mendelssohn's Cello Sonatas (Berlin Classics) also with Louis Lortie. His recording of the Schumann Cello Concerto and world premiere recording of Jörg Widmann’s Concerto (Berlin Classics). He has also recorded the Haydn cello concertos (with Virtuosi Saxoniae, directed by L. Güttler), the Schumann and Widmann cello concertos (with Munich Chamber orchestra, Christoph Poppen) and the concerto by Camille Saint-Saëns (with Hannover Radio Orchestra), the complete works by Beethoven, Schumann and Brahms with pianist Bruno Canino and the cello sonatas by Weill, Shostakovich and de Falla. His recording with violinist Mira Wang features the Duos by Ravel, Eisler and Kodaly and his solo recording works by Solo Suites by Bach and Reger.

Background:
A cello prodigé at age 6, Jan first studied with his father Peter Vogler and subsequently with Josef Schwab in Berlin, Heinrich Schiff and Siegfried Palm. At the age of 20 he won the principal cello position of the Staatskapelle Dresden and became the youngest concertmaster in the history of this orchestra. However, his dream of a solo career gradually became reality and he left his position in Dresden in 1997. That same year, certain that the roots of old European music-making were to be found in America, he moved to New York, where he has remained. He has won the ‘Echo-Award twice (German equivalent of the Grammies) and the 2006 European Cultural Award.

The modern representative of the German cello tradition which goes back to Emanuel Feuermann and Julius Klengel, Jan shares his time between Dresden, Germany and New York City, combining the roots of his traditional musical education with a contemporary style of interpretation.

Jan Vogler is the General Director of the Dresden Musikfestspiele and founder and Artistic Director of the Moritzburg Chamber Music Festival.

Jan Vogler plays the Domenico Montagnana cello ‘Ex-Hekking’ made in Venice in 1721