German-Canadian cellist Johannes Moser has been hailed by Gramophone Magazine as “one of the finest among the astonishing gallery of young virtuoso cellists.” He has performed with many of the world’s leading orchestras such as the Chicago Symphony, New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, London Symphony, Tonhalle Orchester Zurich, Bayerische Rundfunk Orchestra, Munich Philharmonic, Tokyo Symphony, Israel Philharmonic and Toronto Symphony. He works regularly with conductors of the highest level including Riccardo Muti, Lorin Maazel, Valery Gergiev, Zubin Mehta, Vladimir Jurowski, Franz Welser-Möst, Christian Thielemann, Pierre Boulez, Neeme Jarvi and Paavo Jarvi.

The 2009/2010 season includes Johannes’ debut with the Concertgebouw Orchestra under the baton of Mariss Jansons, a return to the Cleveland Orchestra’s Blossom Festival, a tour of the United States with the Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra, debuts with the Sydney Symphony, WDR Orchestra in Cologne and City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, and performances of the Lutoslawski Cello Concerto with the Bayersicher Rundfunk under Welser-Möst. Highlights of his previous season included appearances with the Cincinnati, St. Louis and Seattle symphonies, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, BBC Scottish Symphony and BBC National Orchestra of Wales.

A dedicated chamber musician, Johannes has played concerts with Midori and friends at Lincoln Center and the Kennedy Center and joined Midori and Jonathan Biss on a tour of trio concerts in Europe. He has also performed at many festivals including the Verbier, Schleswig-Holstein, Gstaad and Kissinger festivals, the Mehta Chamber Music Festival and the Colorado and Brevard music festivals.

Johannes also makes it one of his priorities to investigate the road less-travelled. His passion for and interpretation of new music has brought him much attention, not least from Boulez, with whom he gave his U.S. debut, playing the Rands Concerto with the Chicago Symphony. Currently, in addition to commissioning a new cello concerto from acclaimed German composer Christian Jost, Johannes is a strong advocate for already-existing, yet little-played concertos by composers such as Zimmerman, Hindemith, Honegger and Henze.

Together with the celebrated German poet Wolf Wondratschek, Johannes is going to tour a program that will not only feature both artists individually, but will combine and interweave sounds and spoken word. To achieve this, the program will also feature one of Johannes’ other passions, the electric cello, which he uses for improvisation and to explore new possibilities in sound. He has also inspired a number of composers to write for this instrument, mainly in combination with electronics.

Johannes is especially committed to reaching out to young audiences, from kindergarten to college and beyond. In January 2010, he will embark on a tour of North American campuses and alternative venues with pianist, toy pianist and composer Phyllis Chen. Their program will feature both traditional and experimental repertoire, as well as a variety of instruments including traditional piano and cello, prepared piano, toy piano, music box, prepared cello and electric cello. Their aim is to present contemporary classical music in terms with which young adults can connect. Each performance will be coupled with outreach activities to allow students to engage with the music themselves.