The musician
About Jonathan
An impressive body of work
One of Europe’s most versatile cellists, the Norwegian Jonathan Aasgaard enjoys a wide-ranging career as a soloist, chamber musician, studio artist, orchestral principal, teacher, and advocate of new music.
He is Principal Cello of the Sinfonia of London and appears regularly as guest principal with leading orchestras across the UK and continental Europe. A committed pedagogue, he is Professor of Cello at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
Aasgaard’s chamber music activities have taken him throughout Europe, the Middle East, Japan, South Korea, and the United States. He has collaborated with distinguished artists including Nigel Kennedy, Henning Kraggerud, Julian Rachlin, Lawrence Power, Yo-Yo Ma, Giovanni Sollima, Simon Trpčeski, Boris Giltburg, Joanna MacGregor, and Martin Fröst, performing at major festivals and concert venues worldwide.
As a soloist, he has performed more than sixty works for cello and orchestra internationally. His critically acclaimed discography includes recordings of Walton’s Cello Concerto with the Sinfonia of London; Richard Rodney Bennett’s Cello Concerto with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra; Bloch’s Schelomo with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra; and works for cello and orchestra by Carl Davis with the Philharmonia Orchestra. His chamber recordings include Brahms’s cello sonatas with Martin Roscoe, selected as Editor’s Choice in Gramophone. In 2026, he is nominated in the Concerto category of the BBC Music Magazine Awards.
A dedicated champion of new music, Aasgaard has given the world première of Carl Davis’s Ballade for cello and orchestra, the European première of Giovanni Sollima’s Double Cello Concerto, the UK première of Weinberg’s Cello Concerto, and the US premières of concertos by Franz Neruda and Emil Hartmann. He has also premiered numerous solo works written especially for him.
Jonathan Aasgaard plays a cello made by Celeste Farotti in Milan in 1926 and a cello built especially for him by the renowned luthier Stephan von Baehr in 2026.
What the critics say
“A beguiling, hypnotic reading of the cello concerto, Aasgaard is nothing short of magnificent”
James Longstaffe, Presto Music
“Aasgaard draws a dramatically compelling narrative, again coupling precision with nuance and aplomb”
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
Jo Talbot
BBC Music Magazine
“Aasgaard is a beautifully lyrical soloist”
Edward Seckerson, Gramophone
“Translucent orchestral textures allow his generous tone to shine, while a prodigious technique is showcased in an immaculately articulated account of the Allegro appasionato”
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
Clive Paget, The Guardian
“The soloist Jonathan Aasgaard has manifestly thought profoundly about this work-it can never have sounded so good as it does here thanks to Aasgaard’s intelligence and virtuosity “
Simon Heffer, The Daily Telegraph
“Mr Aasgaard's playing-agile, very accurate and focused, and beautifully projected”
Geoffrey Atkinson, British Music Society
“Jonathan Aasgaard focuses the inwardly musing aspect of Schelomo’s narrative virtually to perfection. His warm, velvety tone and phrasing really speak to you”
Rob Cowan, Gramaphone
“Jonathan Aasgaard is a highly accomplished, indeed aristocratic player who reveals an assured technique, tonal colour and a real instinct for the melancholy vested in these works”
Jonathan Woolf, MusicWeb-international
“Jonathan Aasgaard stepped into the spotlight with total assurance. More than that, Aasgaard has the feel for those qualities of restraint and urges for consolation that may once have denied Weinberg’s music its due. Aasgaard’s sympathetic understanding unlocked its secrets to moving effect”
David Fanning, Daily Telegraph
“Roscoe and Aasgaard understand that heritage, minutely crafting their performance to the point where it really is hard to think of a better one”
Caroline Gill, Gramaphone
“Deeply felt and beautifully wrought interpretations by the superb Norwegian cellist”
Patrick Rucker, International Record Review
