Eckart Runge

Eckart Runge (* 1967 in Heidelberg ) is a German cellist and university professor.

biography

Eckart Runge was born into a family of historians and diplomats and grew up in different countries. He received his first cello lessons at the age of nine in Prague. In Brussels, where he graduated from high school, he was a young student at the 'Conservatoire Royal' with Edmont Baert and then studied for eight years in David Geringas' master class in Lübeck. Further mentors were Walter Levin, Alfred Brendel, Boris Pergamenschikow, the Alban Berg Quartet and György Kurtag.

As a student he won numerous prizes, such as at the German Music Competition, the Premio-Stradivari Cremona, the Concours International Violoncelle de Genève, as well as with the quartet at the Premio Borciani and the ARD competition. These awards laid the foundation for his varied concert activities.

In addition to his studies, he held the position of solo cellist in the Lübeck Philharmonic Orchestra. After two years he resigned in order to be able to devote himself entirely to the Artemis Quartet, which had recently been founded and of which he remained cellist for thirty years.

Through all the line-up changes, Eckart Runge shaped the characteristic profile of the Artemis Quartet, with whom he has given concerts around the world and built up a comprehensive discography exclusively with Warner / Erato (formerly EMI / Virgin). The albums of the ensemble u. a. the Beethoven and Ligeti complete recordings, has received the Diapason d'Or, the Grammophone Award and four times the ECH0-Klassik. Composers such as Jörg Widmann, Mauricio Sotelo, Lera Auerbach, Thomas Larcher and Eduard Demetz dedicated works to the ensemble.

In 2018, Eckart Runge decided to pursue his own artistic path and to devote himself entirely to his solo and chamber music projects, above all to his second great passion, crossing the border between classical music and jazz, tango, rock and film music.

As a duo with the pianist Jacques Ammon, he has been giving concerts in concert series, festivals and clubs for 25 years. With their programs and albums CelloTango, RussianSoul, CelloCinema and Baroque Blues, the two delight both critics and broader audiences. In the Beethoven year 2020, the duo Runge & Ammon is with RollOverBeethoven-Revolution u. a. in the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, the Beethovenhaus Bonn, BASF Mannheim, the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival and the WDR Cologne.

For his solo debut album 2020 with the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Eckart Runge has selected the first recording of Nikolai Kapustin's jazzy cello concerto op. 85 and the 1st cello concerto by Alfred Schnittke.

With the Munich Symphony Orchestra he will present the European premiere of the John Williams Cello Concerto.

Eckart Runge will also continue to be present on the chamber music podiums: together with the ECHO Klassik award-winning Quartetto di Cremona, a recording of Franz Schubert's famous string quintet in C major was released in 2019, with which the musicians are touring internationally. Another artistic collaboration exists with saxophonist Asya Fateyewa and accordionist Andreas Borregaard. In 2019 the three musicians will bring the Goldberg Variations by JSBach to the stage in their own arrangement.

As a professor at the Berlin University of the Arts and at the Chapelle de la Reine Elisabeth in Brussels, as well as on numerous master courses, he passes on his experience to students from all over the world.

Eckart Runge also sees his artistic self-image in social engagement and is supported by regular benefit concerts and on-site work. a. Organizations such as Jeunesses Musicales Germany, Yehudi Menuhins Life Music Now and Mit-Mach-Musik, an integration project for refugee children.

Discography

1995: Trois Strophes: Works by Schumann, Strauss, Debussy and Dutilleux - with Peter von Wienhard (Ars Musici)

1996: Works by Webern, Berg, Zemlinsy and Wolf - Artemis Quartet (Ars Musici)
1997: Beethoven: op.59 / 3 and op.132 - Artemis Quartet (Ars Musici)
1998: PiazzollaPassion: Works by Piazzolla, Ginastera, De Falla, Granados, Ravel - Duo Runge & Ammon (Ars Musici)
2000: Ligeti: String Quartets No. 1 and 2 / Cello Sonata (Ars Musici - taken over by Warner / Erato)
2001: CelloTango: Works and arrangements by Gardel, Gadé, Villoldo, Salgan and Piazzolla - Duo Runge & Ammon (Genuin)
2002: Brahms / Verdi: String Quartets (Ars Musici)
2005: Beethoven: op.59 / 1 and 95 (EMI / Virgin - taken over by Warner / Erato) ECHO-Klassik
2006: Janacek / Dvorak (EMI / Virgin- taken over by Warner / Erato)
2007: Schumann / Brahms: Piano quintet with Leif-Ove Andsnes (EMI / Virgin takeover Warner / Erato) Grammophone Award
2008: RussianSoul: Works and arrangements by Kapustin and Rachmaninoff duo Runge & Ammon (Genuin)
2008: Schubert: String Quintet in C major with Truls Mørk (EMI / Virgin - assumed by Warner / Erato)
2009: The Piazzolla Project: with Jacques Ammon (EMI / Virgin takeover Warner / Erato)
2010: Beethoven: op.18 / 1 and op.130 / 133 (Warner / Erato), ECHO-Klassik
2011: Beethoven: All string quartets (EMI / Virgin takeover Warner / Erato)
2011: Boccherini: String Quintets with Cuarteto Casals (Harmonia Mundi)
2012: CelloCinema: Works and arrangements by Chaplin, Rota, Morricone, Shostakowitsch and Janacek - Duo Runge & Ammon (Genuin)
2012: Schubert: The late string quartets (EMI / Virgin - taken over by Warner / Erato)
2013: Mendelssohn: String Quartets Op. 13, Op. 40/1 and Op. 80 (Warner / Erato) ECHO-Klassik
2015: Brahms: String Quartets op.51 / 1 and op.67 (Warner / Erato) ECHO-Klassik
2019: Shostakovich: String Quartets No. 5, No. 7 and Piano Quintet with Elisabeth Leonskaja (Warner / Erato)
2019: Schubert: String Quintet in C major Eckart Runge with Quartetto di Cremona (audite)

Web links

personal data
SURNAME	Runge, Eckart
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German cellist and university professor
DATE OF BIRTH	1967
PLACE OF BIRTH	Heidelberg