Rising star of the cello Jonathan Swensen is the recipient of the 2022 Avery Fisher Career Grant and was recently awarded joint First Prize at the 2024 Naumburg International Cello Competition.  Previously he has been featured as both Musical America’s ‘New Artist of the Month’ and ‘One to Watch’ in Gramophone Magazine.  Jonathan first fell in love with the cello upon hearing the Elgar Concerto at the age of six, and ultimately made his concerto debut performing that very piece with Portugal’s Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Música.

The release of Jonathan’s debut recording ‘Fantasia’, on Champs Hill Records, an album of works for solo cello, including Bent Sørensen’s ‘Farewell Fantasia’, composed for and dedicated to Jonathan and which he premiered in 2021. The album received rave reviews on its release, including from Gramophone, BBC Music, The Strad and Musical America which printed “Swensen proves to be not just a bold programmer, but a mature artist with a bold rounded sound and the emotional chops to back it up.”

Solo appearances with orchestras have included the Aalborg Symphony Orchestra under Douglas Boyd, the New England Conservatory Philharmonia and Hugh Wolff, London’s Philharmonia Orchestra, Orquesta Ciudad de Granada, Copenhagen Philharmonic, Aarhus Symphony Orchestra, Odense Symphony Orchestra, Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Armenian State Symphony Orchestra, the NFM Leopoldinum in a play-direct program, Mobile Symphony, and the Greenville Symphony.  During the 2024-25 season Jonathan will make his debut with the Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine, returns to the Aarhus Symphony Orchestra

He has made critically acclaimed recital debuts at the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater and New York’s Merkin Concert Hall, with additional performances in Boston’s Jordan Hall, the Morgan Library and Museum, the Casals Festival, and the Krannert Center.   In addition to his many solo appearances, Jonathan is a frequent performer of chamber music in the U.S. and Europe, appearing at the Tivoli Festival, Copenhagen Summer Festival, Chamberfest Cleveland, Krzyżowa-Music, Vancouver Recital Society, San Francisco Performances, La Jolla Music Society’s Summerfest, and Newport Classical.

In 2024, Jonathan joined the Bowers Program of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center where he performs  at Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center’s Rose Studio, and on tour throughout the United States.  He captured First Prizes at the 2019 Windsor International String Competition, 2018 Khachaturian International Cello Competition, and the 2018 Young Concert Artists International Auditions.  A graduate of the Royal Danish Academy of Music, Jonathan continued his studies with Torleif Thedéen at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo, and Laurence Lesser at the New England Conservatory, where he received his Artist Diploma in May 2023. Jonathan is an Artist in Residence at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in Belgium working with Gary Hoffman.

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