Josef Alin was born in Stockholm in 1995 into a family of musicians and started playing the cello at the age of six. He studied at the Junior Academy of Music in Stockholm for six years, before moving on to study with Professor Jens Peter Maintz at Berlin University of the Arts. He has taken part in masterclasses across Europe with cellists such as Gary Hoffman, Steven Isserlis, Anner Bylsma, Torleif Thedéen, Jens Peter Maintz, Xenia Jankovic, Reinhard Latzko and Marko Ylönen. Furthermore, he receives a scholarship from the International Academy of Music in Liechtenstein, where he participates in the intensive music weeks.
In 2017, Josef Alin won the 1st prize at the “International Anton Rubenstein Competition for Cello” in Düsseldorf. He was also a prize-winner at the “Stockholm International Music Competition” and has won the “Polar Star Prize”. Josef Alin has received numerous scholarships from the Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm and also received a scholarship to attend the “Kuhmo Festival Music Course” in 2013. In 2015 he was awarded the prestigious “Guido Vecchi Scholarship”.
The young cellist is an active orchestral musician. He is a member of the Swedish National Youth Orchestra, and has performed with them in the Carnegie Hall and the Chicago Symphony Hall under the baton of Esa-Pekka Salonen and Tõnu Kaljuste. Previously he was section leader with the Stockholm Youth Symphony Orchestra. As a chamber musician, he has performed at the Royal Concert Hall in Stockholm and worked with renowned chamber music ensembles and artists such as the Brodsky Quartet, the Kungsbacka Piano Trio, the Trio Con Brio and Dmitry Sitkovetsky. He has already been invited to play at the FESTIVAL NEXT GENERATION Bad Ragaz in Switzerland, and is a member of the ENSEMBLE ESPERANZA, which is made up of scholarship holders from the International Academy of Music in Liechtenstein.
Josef Alin currently plays a Peter Westerlund cello, which is kindly loaned to him by the Swedish Welin Foundation.
February 2018