Eldar Saparayev
cellist/Kazakhstan-Switzerland-Germany
Eldar Saparayev was born in Kazakhstan in 1980 to an artistic family and continues the tradition of playing cello in the 4th generation handed down on his father’s side of the family for nearly 80 years. His father, Professor Zaur Saparayev, began teaching cello to Eldar when he was six. In 1987 Eldar entered the Baiseitova Music School for gifted children in Almaty, Kazakhstan. After completing the School with Honours in 1998, he joined The Kazakh National Music Academy under the tutelage of his father.
By 2004, Eldar obtained his Bachelor and two Masters of Arts degrees with honors at the Hochschulle für Musik und Theater in Zurich. Throughout his successful studies in Zurich, Eldar Saparayev completed two years of the exchange program in the class of David Geringas in Hanns Eisler’s Hochschule für Musik in Berlin where he was a recipient of a stipend from the Bernhard Greenhouse Fund. In 2016, he earned the Masters of Arts Degree in Conducting at the Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana under Marc Kissoczy.
Currently, Eldar holds the position of the Chief cellist at the Südwestsdeutschen Philharmonie Orchestra in Konstanz, Germany and is a member of the Philharmonishe Cellisten Köln. He is regularly invited to perform as a guest principal cellist with the New European Strings, the Bayerische Staatsoper München, the Münchener Rundfunkorchester, the Bachakademie Orchester Stuttgart and the Zürich Kammerorchester. In 2015, Mr. Saparayev founded the Lyra Festival Orchestra in Zürich. He is the Chief Conductor of the Euro Sinfonietta Wien, a member of the Wilhelm Furtwängler Foundation, and an artistic director of “Klassik Konstanz,” initiated in 2017 by Saparayev Series of Chamber Music Concerts.
Winner of only first prizes in every competition he entered, including 1st Prize in The International Anthonio Janigro Competition in Croatia in 2000, Eldar received numerous international awards and recognitions. In chamber music he had the honor performing with a number of true virtuosos in classical performance, such as Dmitri Sitkovetsky, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Dimitri Ashkenazy, Heinrich Schiff, Bobby McFerrin, and David Geringas.