German Tcakulov

Born in Vladikavkaz, Russia, German Tcakulov embarked on his musical journey in his hometown, mastering the violin, viola, and piano. At the age of 15, he continued his viola studies at the Special Music School of the St. Petersburg Conservatory under the tutelage of Prof. Vladimir Stopichev. After four years, he transferred to the St. Petersburg Conservatory. At 21, he relocated to Germany, where he earned both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in viola from the Hanns Eisler Academy of Music in Berlin under the guidance of Tabea Zimmermann.

In 2013, he received a scholarship from the Lucia Loeser Foundation and achieved international recognition, winning prizes at prestigious competitions, including the Charles Hennen Competition in Holland, the Jyväskylä Competition in Finland, the Mravinsky Competition in Russia, and the “start-up! music” prize from the Förderverein der HfM Hanns Eisler. Between 2018 and 2022, he served as a member of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (BR) and played under renown conductors such as Mariss Jansons, Simon Rattle, Daniel Barenboim, Bernard Haitink, Herbert Blomstedt, Ivan Fischer, Daniel Harding, John Eliot Gardiner, Daniele Gatti, and Valery Gergiev.

German’s chamber music partners have included Claudio Bohórquez, Stephan Forck, Boris Garlitsky, Frank van de Laar, Stephan Pickard, Stephan Picard, Henri Sigfridsson, and Tabea Zimmermann. He has been invited to perform at prestigious festivals, including Murten Classics, Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, and Otzberger Sommerkonzerte. Since 2021, he has led his own viola class at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Munich. From 2017 to 2022, he held a teaching position at the Hanns Eisler Academy of Music in Berlin and served as an assistant to Tabea Zimmermann. As of October 2022, he holds the position of professor of viola at the Hochschule für Musik in Karlsruhe.

He plays a modern French viola crafted by Patrick Robin.