Biography

Dylan Russell (USA, UK) was born in Vienna in 2012 and started playing the cello when he was five and a half years old. He studies with István Várdai in the Advancement for Highly Gifted Children (Hochbegabtenlehrgang) at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (MDW) and receives additional instruction from Prof. Ivan Monighetti. Dylan is a scholarship holder from the International Academy of Music in Liechtenstein and participates in the intensive music weeks and activities offered by the Academy. He is a grateful recipient of the Günter A. and Rose-Marie Brock Scholarship.
Dylan was awarded multiple 1st prizes, including the Geneva Junior Music Competition (2025), Austria’s Goldene Note (2025), the 2024 Prima la Musica Austria Bundeswettberb (national competition), where he was the Bundessieger (national champion) with 100 points, the David Popper International Cello Competition (2023), Prima La Musica Austria (solo 2020, 2022 and 2024; with his cello ensemble in 2023), Nouvelles Étoiles (2024), the 15th International Music Competition "Luigi Cerritelli” (2023), the Oberton International SoloistCompetition (2022), the Gustav Mahler International Cello Competition (2022), and the Napolinova World Cello E-Competition (2022). He is also a major prize winner of the Osaka International Music Competition (2025), Virtuosos International (2025), the Grunewald International Music Competition (2024), the International Music Festival in Vienna (2024), the Allegra Youth Competition (2022) and the Classic Pure Vienna Musician Competition (2022).

Dylan has performed as a soloist with the Concerto Budapest Orchestra in Budapest (2025), the Kammerorchester Lyra Wien in Vienna (2024), the Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra in Budapest (2024), the UniArt Orchestra in Paris (2024), the Oberton+ chamber orchestra in Graz (2022) and the Allegra Festival chamber orchestra in Sofia (2022). Dylan also enjoys composing, and was thrilled to perform his piece “Na Honu O Kailua” in the Goldener Saal of the Musikverein in Vienna.

When Dylan was 11, he was selected as the youngest participant in the prestigious Carl Flesch Academy, where he won the Henle Prize. He has greatly enjoyed master classes with Kyril Zlotnikov, István Várdai, Ivan Monighetti, Daniel Müller-Schott, Natalie Clein, Danjulo Ishizaka, Karmen Pecar and Hans-Christian Schweiker.

Dylan has been privileged to play as a soloist in many beautiful concert halls, including the Musikverein’s Goldener Saal, Ehrbar Saal and MuTH in Vienna, Obudai Taraskö in Budapest, Societa Filarmonica in Trento, Weinbrenner Saal in Baden-Baden, SAL Schaan in Liechtenstein and the MVM Dome in Budapest, among others. Since 2025, Dylan plays a 1870 Miremont cello, on generous loan from master luthier Christine Eriks. He also likes bouldering, cycling, hiking, skiing, reading and being class president in his free time.