Thomas Kaufmann
Violoncello
Cellist Thomas Kaufmann, born in the Austrian town of Graz, spent his childhood amid the mixed forests, pumpkin fields and apple orchards of the idyllic Eastern Steiermark. Thomas grew up in a family of music lovers, where his parents and their young children used to play folk music together. His grandfather was a member of the local city band, and his great-grandmother was a passionate interpreter of folk music. His elder brother having chosen to study the violin, Thomas decided the cello was to be his instrument. He studied music with Heinrch Schiff in Vienna and later with Eberhard Felz in Berlin, both of whom were a major in fluence in his development. As a concert cellist he traveled around the globe, performing in Europe, the Americas, Australia, Africa, Japan and India. Thomas Kaufmann is the cellist of the Trio Imàge, whose first CD was awarded the prestigious German 'ECHO Klassik' prize in 2014 for the world premiere recording of the complete piano trios of the German-Argentine composer Mauricio Kagel. Thomas is solocellist of the Camerata Bern since 2013. He was professor for violoncello at the Rostock University of Music and Theatre from 2014 to 2016, and between 2018 and 2020 he taught the postgraduate cello class of the Cuban-European Youth Academy in Havanna (Cuba). Thomas lives in Berlin and Austria.