Claes GUNNARSSON, cello

Swedish cellist Claes Gunnarsson was born in Gothenburg, Sweden 1976.
After his successful solodebuts with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra (1998), Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra (1999), and the London Soloists (Queen Elisabeth Hall, 2000), he has established himself as one of the leading cellists in Sweden.

Recent performances include concertos with the Helsingborg, Malmo, Umea and Shanghai Symphony Orchestras as well as Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Musica Vitae, Royal Northern Chamber Orchestra and Swedish Chamber Orchestra. He has been invited to the most prestigious festivals in Sweden such as the Bastad, Umea and Gotland Chambermusic Festivals as well as Manchester international Cellofestival, Kronberg Cellofestival etc. He has toured as a soloist in most of the European countries, China and the US.

Claes started to learn the cello and the piano at the age of seven. In 1994, he joined the Gothenburg College of Music where he in 1996 got his Master of Music and Soloist Diploma, at which point he became a student of Ralph Kirshbaum at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, for the next three years.
In 1998 he was chosen to be Artist in Residence at the Swedish Broadcasting Corporation where he did several recordings and soloconcerts which has been broadcasted successfully in the whole Europe.

In 2000 Claes moved back to Gothenburg after he got invited to be the principal cellist of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra.

Claes is playing on a cello made by D. Tecchler 1707 which is a loan from the Jarnakerfoundation in Stockholm.