PROGRAM - PRELIMINARY ROUND
Brahms: Cello Sonata in F Major, No. 2
Kodály: Sonata for Solo Cello

SEMI-FINAL
J. Haydn: Cello Concerto in C Major
P. I. Tchaikovsky: Variations on a Rococo theme

FINAL
Dvořák: Cello Concerto 
Bach: Cello Suite in G Major, No. 1, Prélude

PROGRAMME BOOK 

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Alexandra Kahrer is an Austrian cellist who has won numerous prizes at international music competitions. Most recently, in May 2025, she won 3rd Prize at the renowned Prague Spring International Music Competition as well as the Audience Prize and the Czech Music Fund Award for the best interpretation of the contemporary piece composed for the competition. In 2024, she won 1st Prize at the International Grunewald Music Competition Berlin under the patronage of David Geringas. She has also been a prizewinner at the Gustav Mahler Prize Cello Competition in the Czech Republic, the Leoš Janáček Competition in Brno, the David Popper Cello Competition in Hungary and the International Cello Competition Liezen in Austria.

She captivates the audience with her profound emotional depth, personal expressiveness, stylistic authenticity, tonal richness and virtuosity.

Her performances as a soloist and chamber musician have taken her to major concert halls such as the Musikverein Vienna, the Konzerthaus Vienna, the Weimarhalle, the Brno Philharmonic, the Casals Forum Kronberg and the Rudolfinum Prague.

She has been a guest at renowned festivals and concert series including the Allegro Vivo Festival, Kronberg Festival, AlpenKlassik Festival, Odeonskonzerte Munich, Westfalen Classics Festival, Musiktage Starnberg & Seefeld, Super Cello Festival Beijing, Musikforum Trenta of the Vienna Philharmonic and the Beethoven Frühling Festival, among others.

As a soloist she has performed with orchestras such as Kremerata Baltica, Prague Symphony Orchestra, Bad Reichenhall Philharmonic, Southwest German Chamber Orchestra Pforzheim, Camerata Allegro Vivo, Jena Philharmonic, Wranitzky Chamber Orchestra Prague, Franz Schmidt Chamber Orchestra, Czech Virtuosi Orchestra and the Orchestra Enigma Classica.

Her versatility and passion for chamber music also make her a sought-after ensemble partner. She performs regularly with established groups while continuously embracing new artistic collaborations.

From October 2025, Alexandra will be studying at the Kronberg Academy with Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt in the Professional Studies Program. Previously, she studied in his class at the University of Music Franz Liszt Weimar, where she most recently pursued her Konzertexamen until 2025. Earlier, she studied with Wen-Sinn Yang at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich. She received her first cello lessons at the age of four from Gottfried Plank and Josef Luitz and began her studies as a junior student with Robert Nagy at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna.

She has drawn musical inspiration and valuable artistic insights from masterclasses with Wolfgang Böttcher, Jens Peter Maintz, David Geringas, Frans Helmerson, Maximilian Hornung, Gustav Rivinius, István Várdai, László Fenyö, Sebastian Klinger, Peter Bruns and Troels Svane.

Already as a young cellist Alexandra received numerous first prizes at the Austrian national competition “Prima la musica”. She also won First Prize at the “Giovani Musicisti – Città di Treviso” competition in Italy and received multiple awards at the international Allegro Vivo Festival, including the “Johann Krahuletz Prize”. Alexandra won the audition of “Musica Juventutis” at the Vienna Konzerthaus and received an “Honorable Mention” at the international radio competition “Concertino Praga” with piano trio.

She is a scholarship recipient of Friends of Rudens Turku and a winner of the German Musical Instrument Fund competition in Hamburg.

Alexandra plays a cello by Giovanni Battista Rogeri, Brescia 1671, on generous loan from the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben.