Nicolas Hartmann studied at the Conservatoire à rayonnement départemental d’Orléans, then at the Conservatoire national supérieur de musique et de danse de Paris with André Navarra and Philippe Muller. In 1983, he won a virtuosity prize at the Geneva Conservatoire and went on to perfect his skills in Cologne with Boris Pergamenschikow. After winning the Pablo Casals Competition in Barcelona in 1986, he became principal cellist of the Orchestre des Pays de Savoie, before joining the Orchestre National de Lyon in 1992, where he holds the same position.
Nicolas Hartmann has performed as soloist with Franz Welser-Möst, Emmanuel Krivine, Alexandre Lazarev, David Robertson, Thierry Fischer, Tibor Varga and Roy Goodwin, and has played chamber music with Emanuel Ax, Éric Le Sage, Joseph Silverstein, Jennifer and Alan Gilbert, Harvey de Souza, Boris Garlitzky, Emmanuel Pahud and Bruno Pasquier. A keen student of early instruments, he was a member of the Chambre philharmonique, the orchestra founded by Emmanuel Krivine. Since 2001, he has taught the cello section of the Orchestre français des jeunes.
