Alexander Suleiman

"Alexander Suleiman is one of the most interesting and versatile musicians that I have met. He is not only a brilliant virtuoso but also a profoundly philosophical interpreter of the entire cello repertoire. His music is language in the best sense of the word; he never "plays" just to please. His musical spirit is universal and not just bound to the perspective of a string player. He moves in undiscovered regions of the contemporary world, inspires, questions, experiments and enriches everything that he gets his fingers on with that quantum individuality that makes his playing so sensational and convincing…." (Franz Hummel)

Alexander Suleiman studied with Eldar Issakadze, Daniil Shafran and Natalia Gutman. Suleiman is one of the most interesting and individual musicians of his generation. He has played with well-known orchestras throughout the world, where he has a reputation as an unusual and original interpreter. But in addition to these performances, he is also strongly motivated by cultural and political interests and is a committed ambassador of European musical culture to the Arab world, Jordan and Israel as well as Russia, the Caucasian countries, Asia, Africa and South America.
His passion for contemporary music and his comprehensive mastery of the complete repertoire before 1900 have turned him into an artistic personality who avoids well-trodden paths. He frequently performs cello concertos by leading composers of our time, such as Franz Hummel, Erik Sven Tueuer, Vaza Azarshvili, and Petris Vasks, many of which have dedicated works to him and many of which have been released as world premier recordings on CD. His brilliant improvisational skills have long been admired, especially by his fellow musicians. On his CD "Trio Zero: Out of the Blue”, they are presented to a larger audience for the first time. The CD has been nominated for the German Record Critics' Award in 2012. In 2014, the second CD "Atavistic Music" Extreme Jazz with improvisations has gained high critical acclaim. In October 2015 another CD has been released on TYXart featuring works by Chopin and Schumann, as well as Atavistic Music. 2018 will bring the premiere recordings of piano trios by An-lun Huang on MDG as well as the complete works for cello and piano by Georgian composer Vazha Azarashvili together with pianist Irma Issakadze on NAXOS.

Alexander Suleiman has won numerous competitions not only with his main instrument but also as a pianist in Germany, Spain, the USA and Korea. He was awarded the first prize in cello at the International Johannes Brahms Competition in Austria and has since been concertizing at international festivals such as the KuhmoMusic Festival in Finland, the Oleg Kagan Music Festival, the YAE Festival in Vancouver, the Pax vobiscum Festival in the Republic of Georgia, the Duxbury Music Festival, "Wörthersee Classics", and so on... The 2018/2019 season includes performances throughout Asia, Europe, Canada, and the USA.

Besides his passion for music and cello in particular Mr. Suleiman's life displays a variety of facets that include degrees in Mathematics, Physics, Latin, and ancient Greek. He is holding the black belt in Taekwondo and in his spare time he pursues his passion for tournament chess as well as close up magic as a distinguished Active Magician Member of the world renown Magic Castle in L. A.

Following his position as a professor of cello at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles for numerous years, Mr Suleiman has accepted the position as a professor of cello at the Soochow University School of Music in China and gives master classes worldwide. Being a frequent member of jury panels in international competitions his most recent duties as a competition jury member included the International Alice and Eleonore Schoenfeld String Competition in Hong Kong, the United States International Music Competition at the Stanford University, as well as the 2nd China International Violin Making and Bow Making Competition in Beijing. Alexander Suleiman also participates and directs outreach programs, amongst which he has been honored with an appointment as artistic director of the Art Conquers Borders Academy in Bremen, Germany. The mandate of the academy is to train promising artists from developing countries. His duties commenced with a concert at the German House of Congress in Berlin. Alexander Suleiman was the Artist in Residence at Dulwich College Suzhou from 2015-2018 and is Artistic Director at the Sommerakademie Neuburg in Germany.