“Apollonian-inspired sounds flinging their arms wide, hardly comprehensible in their beauty and spiritual depth,” the Südwest-Presse wrote about the cellist Lionel Martin. “A wonderfully sensitive  artist with spontaneous reactions and great imagination,” is Anne-Sophie Mutter’s evaluation of the musician from Germany. His extraordinary soloistic charisma and highly sensitive chamber music playing have made him one of the most sought-after artists of his generation.
He most recently won the Suggia Competition in Portugal 2024 aswell as the competition “Ton & Erklärung” in Hanover in 2022, the event’s youngest participant.
Since 2017, he has been a fellow of the Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation. Together with Anne-Sophie Mutter, he has since appeared at the world’s leading concert halls, such as the Elbphilharmonie, Berlin’s Philharmonie, Vienna’s Konzertverein, the KKL in Lucerne, the Teatro Colón and at Carnegie Hall. In doing so, he has also shared the stage with artists such as Lambert Orkis, Daniel Müller-Schott and Daniel Hope.
He regularly performs as a soloist with renowned orchestras, such as the NDR Radio Philharmonic, SWR Symphony Orchestra, Porto Philharmonic Orchestra, the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra and ORF Symphony Orchestra Vienna. Numerous recitals have taken him to Lucerne Festival, Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Beethovenfest Bonn, among others.
He has given concerts with his brother, the pianist Demian Martin, that have been broadcast by BR, hr, SWR, WDR and ARTE. The duo’s ability to spontaneously improvise pieces suggested by the audience has garnered wide-spread media attention.
Lionel Martin studied with Joseph Hasten and Thomas Grossenbacher and continues his studies with Frans Helmerson at Kronberg Academy. Furthermore, he has received major impulses from lessons with Lynn Harrell, Steven Isserlis, Jens Peter Maintz, Jan Vogler and Yo-Yo Ma.