Alexandra Kahrer is an Austrian cellist who has received numerous awards at national and international competitions. Most recently, in December 2024, she won First Prize at the International Grunewald Music Competition Berlin. 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 and the Casals Forum in Kronberg.
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, the 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. Alongside various other formations she regularly performs with the Ilm Quartet founded in Weimar and in a piano trio with Anna and Laura Handler.
She is currently pursuing a Konzertexamen degree in the class of Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt at the University of Music Franz Liszt in Weimar, where she also completed her Master’s degree. She earned her Bachelor’s degree under Wen-Sinn Yang at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich.
She had her first cello lessons at the age of four with Gottfried Plank and Josef Luitz and started 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 in the piano trio category.
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.