German Tcakulov has been Professor of Viola at the Mozarteum University Salzburg since 2024. A prizewinner at several international competitions and former member of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, he performs internationally as a chamber musician and orchestral musician and is active in teaching and masterclasses throughout Europe.
Born in Vladikavkaz, Russia, German Tcakulov began his musical training in his hometown, studying violin, viola and piano. At the age of 15 he entered the junior department of the St. Petersburg Conservatory, where he studied viola with Vladimir Stopichev, later continuing as a full-time student. At 21 he moved to Berlin to study at the Hanns Eisler Academy of Music with Tabea Zimmermann, completing both his undergraduate and graduate studies there.
In 2013 he received a scholarship from the Lucia Loeser Foundation and won prizes at several international competitions, including the Charles Hennen Competition (Netherlands), the Jyväskylä Competition (Finland), the Mravinsky Competition (Russia) and the “start-up! music” prize of the Hanns Eisler Academy of Music. From 2018 to 2022 he was a member of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. As an orchestral musician, he has worked with conductors including Mariss Jansons, Simon Rattle, Daniel Barenboim, Bernard Haitink, Herbert Blomstedt, Iván Fischer, Daniel Harding, John Eliot Gardiner, Daniele Gatti and Valery Gergiev.
He performs regularly as a chamber musician with partners such as Stephan Forck, Ulf Wallin, Tabea Zimmermann, Claudio Bohórquez, Stephan Pickard, Boris Garlitsky, Wen-Sinn Yang, Ingolf Turban, Thomas Hoppe and Frank van de Laar. Concert engagements have taken him to festivals including AIMS (Spain), Murten Classics, the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival and the Otzberg Summer Concerts.
From 2017 to 2022 he served as a lecturer at the Hanns Eisler Academy of Music in Berlin and as assistant to Tabea Zimmermann. Between 2021 and 2023 he maintained his own viola studio at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich. In summer 2022 he was appointed Professor of Viola at the University of Music in Karlsruhe. He also teaches at the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole in Florence and gives masterclasses internationally. In 2024 he joined the faculty of the Mozarteum University Salzburg as Professor of Viola.
He plays two modern French violas by Patrick Robin and Roland Belleguic.