In just a few years, Daniel Müller-Schott has succeeded in establishing himself world-wide as one of the supreme cellists. With his sure sense of style and great musical maturity, he endeavours to open up new paths for his audiences, also to works already thought to be familiar.Music critics like to draw attention to the musician's ability to discover new aspects of the music, and then, with astonishing virtuosity, to reveal them to his public. He is constantly searching for both new and rare old works with which he can extend his repertoire on the cello, including with his own adaptations.
As a soloist, Daniel Müller-Schott worked with such renowned conductors as Vladimir Ashkenazy, Christoph Eschenbach, Alan Gilbert, Michael Gielen, Hartmut Haenchen, Vernon Handley, Sakari Oramo, Michael Tilson Thomas and Osmo Vänskä. His concerts were with such internationally important orchestras as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the New World Symphony Miami, the Israel Symphony Orchestra, the Australian Chamber Orchestra, the London Philharmonia Orchestra, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the Nederlands Philharmonisch Orkest, the Kyoto Symphony Orchestra, the Warsaw National Philharmonia, the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Hamburg NDR Symphony Orchestra.
In 2004 and 2005, Daniel Müller-Schott will be making guest appearances as a soloist in many European countries as well as in North America and Asia. His debuts with world-famous orchestras and conductors are especially worth mentioning: the Orchestre National de France under Kurt Masur, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo under Marek Janowski, the Philadelphia Orchestra under Christoph Eschenbach, the New York Philharmonic under Charles Dutoit, the English Chamber Orchestra, the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig under Riccardo Chailly, and the Tchaikovsky Orchestra Moscow under Vladimir Fedosseyev. In addition, Müller-Schott will be going on yet more tours, playing as part of a trio with Anne-Sophie Mutter and Sir André Previn. Recitals and solo evenings will again take him to London's Wigmore Hall, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam and Munich's Herkulessaal, and also to Japan and Canada.
Moreover, Daniel Müller-Schott is very much in demand as a partner when it comes to chamber music, including by Anne-Sophie Mutter, Sir André Previn, Christian Tetzlaff, Vadim Repin, Lars Vogt, Steven Isserlis, Julia Fischer, Arabella Steinbacher and Jean-Yves Thibaudet.
He makes regular guest appearances at international music festivals such as in Schleswig-Holstein, Rheingau and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the Festival Lucerne, the Ravinia Festival Chicago and the City of London Festival. Furthermore, Müller-Schott plays in concerts in many European and North American concert halls, including the Berliner Philharmonie, the Kölner Philharmonie, the Concert Hall of the Vienna Musikverein, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, London's Wigmore Hall, Birmingham's Symphony Hall, the Sydney Opera House, the Herbst Theater in San Francisco and New York's Carnegie Hall.
Daniel Müller-Schott studied under Walter Nothas, Heinrich Schiff and Steven Isserlis. He benefited from the personal sponsorship and support of Anne-Sophie Mutter as the holder of a scholarship from her Foundation. At the age of 15 he won first prize at Moscow's International Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians.
Since his childhood, Daniel Müller-Schott has felt a great love for the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. Consequently, it is hardly surprising that when he came to record his first CD, he chose the Six Suites for Cello Solo (Glissando Records). It was his interpretation of these masterpieces which had delighted concert-goers in the Louvre, the Sibelius Academy Helsinki, the Louisiana Museum Copenhagen and the Kennedy Center in Washington. His recording attracted a great amount of attention in the international music press.
His second recording is dedicated to the chamber music of Debussy, Poulenc, Franck and Ravel, and he was accompanied on the piano by Robert Kulek (EMI Classics). This CD was nominated by the BBC Music Magazine as "Editor's Choice August 2002" and also nominated for the "Edison Award 2003". In a comparison of the interpretations of the César Franck sonata, Müller-Schott's und Kulek's interpretation was chosen as the best of all the available recordings (Luister Magazine, Holland, January 2003).
On his third CD, Daniel Müller-Schott, together with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, presents his own arrangements of Haydn’s cello concertos and Beethoven’s violin romances (ORFEO). This recording was awarded the highest possible ratings by Gramophone, Fono Forum and Luister magazines.
In addition to the Khachaturian recording which is now available, further recordings will be released in the course of 2004 – two cello concertos by Joachim Raff, who was a contemporary of Liszt and Brahms, which were recorded with the “Bamberger Symphoniker” conducted by Hans Stadlmair (Tudor Records), as well as recordings of works for cello and piano by Robert Schumann, the cello concerts by Edward Elgar and William Walton (all on Orfeo), and Mozart’s piano trio with Anne-Sophie Mutter and und Sir André Previn (Deutsche Grammophon)
Daniel Müller-Schott has already made several television appearances, including in France with his performances of the Bach Suites, and in Germany with Brahms' Double Concerto and Haydn's Concerto in C major. He plays a Matteo Goffriller cello, made in Venice in 1700, and a modern violoncello, made by Etienne Vatelot in Paris in 1985, which the Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation has kindly loaned to him.
Daniel Müller-Schott lives near Munich. In his spare time he is an enthusiastic jogger and badminton player. He is very interested in art, and feels a strong affinity with 19th century French painters; it is the way they treat colours and light which constantly fascinates and inspires him. Literature is another of his passions, in particular biographies which deal with the times, lives and works of the great composers and artists. He says, "I am convinced that knowledge of the circumstances under which composers create their works not only provides insights into the nature of a piece of music, but also conveys deeper impulses from the point of view of its interpretation."