Arne Zeller (*2006) began playing the cello at the age of six and from the age of 14 was a junior student at the Leipzig University of Music and Theatre in the class of Prof. Peter Bruns. He received additional valuable musical impulses through masterclasses with Ivan Monighetti, Hans Jorgen Jensen, Jens Peter Maintz, Troels Svane, Jan Vogler and Frans Helmerson.

He has won numerous prizes at international competitions, including 1st prize at the International Gustav Mahler Cello Competition and 1st prize at the German National Competition Jugend musiziert in the solo cello category in 2022, 2nd prize at the International Johannes Brahms Competition Pörtschach 2023, the Martin Stadtfeld Prize (Friends of Young Musicians Mainz-Wiesbaden) and 1st prize at the Pablo Casals International Award in Spain in 2024.

At the age of 13, Arne made his debut as a soloist with Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations, followed by performances with the Baden-Baden Philharmonic Orchestra, the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Euro Symphony Orchestra and the Main Chamber Orchestra, among others. He has been a member of the international string ensemble ‘LGT Young Soloists’ since 2021.

Concert engagements have taken Arne to venues such as the Konzerthaus Berlin, the Vienna Musikverein, the Kurhaus Baden-Baden, the Elbphilharmonie, the Laeiszhalle in Hamburg and the Alte Oper Frankfurt as well as to various festivals such as the Heidelberger Frühling, the Northern Lights Festival, the Moritzburgfestival and the Rheingau Musik Festival.

Arne Zeller is a scholarship holder of the German Foundation for Musical Life, the International Music Academy Liechtenstein, the Geneva String Academy, the Schloss Neuhardenberg Foundation and the Hans and Eugenia Jütting Foundation and is supported by the ‘Friends of Young Musicians Mainz/Wiesbaden’.

Arne plays a violoncello by Charles Adolphe Maucotel, Paris 1850, known as the “ex Paul Tortelier”, a generous loan by a member of the Stretton Society.