About

Photo by Christopher Myers.

Christian Hartman is a Baltimore-based cellist, percussionist, composer, and educator known for his energetic, passionate performances and his ability to bridge a wide variety of musical styles. As an orchestral musician, he can be heard prominently as principal cellist in the soundtrack of the 2021 film Cordelia, by Nigerian director Tunde Kelani. Hartman most recently appeared as cello soloist with the Shenandoah Conservatory Symphony Orchestra performing Julia Wolfe’s Flower Power, with the composer in attendance. As a chamber musician, Hartman regularly performs in duo with harpist/organist Anna Smith and Irish pianist Eoín Fleming. Hartman is an avid performer of early music and is adept at solo and continuo playing on both Baroque cello and viola da gamba. Hartman is also passionate about reviving obscure and unknown works for cello, and in 2026 he gave the United States premiere of Marcelle Soulage’s cello sonata, written in 1919. He is most enthusiastic, however, about contemporary music and working with living composers, and his work has led to collaborations, commissions, and the premieres of several new compositions written for him.

A composer and arranger himself, Hartman has written music for a variety of ensembles, including works premiered by high schools, collegiate ensembles, and dance companies. His piece The Next Phrase, co-composed with Jeremy Keaton for Em Godfrey’s dance terminal, was presented at the American College Dance Association’s Mid-Atlantic North Conference at the University of Maryland in March 2020.

Hartman holds degrees in music performance from Shenandoah Conservatory (D.M.A.), the University of Delaware (M.M.) and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (B.A.). Hartman's past teachers include Julian Schwarz, Lawrence Stomberg, Gita Ladd, and Maxim Kozlov, and he has studied chamber music with members of the Calidore, Attacca, Escher, and Audubon string quartets, among others. He plays on a Mirecurtien cello made in 1922 by François Delprato and a German bow by Otto A. Hoyer.