Alexander Scheirle, The Crested Butte Music Festival's Artistic and Managing Diretor since 2004, also enjoys an international career as a cellist, performing concertos, chamber repertoire and orchestral music. At Crested Butte, he plays as a principal cellist of the Festival Symphony Orchestra, as a soloist and in recitals. A resident of the US since 2007, he was born in Germany and trained at the Conservatories in Cologne, Aachen and Saarbruecken and at the Guildhall School in London, UK and has performed and recorded around the world with composers, soloists and conductors such as Pierre Boulez, Mstislav Rostropovich, Christopher Hogwood, and Trevor Pinnock. From 1991 until 2007 he was principal cellist of the Bavarian Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra, which is based in the city of Augsburg , and became its Artistic Director in 2000, remaining in the post for seven years. During his time as Artistic Director of the orchestra, it recorded almost 20 CDs attracting praise from the world's music media, including FANFARE, BBC Music Magazine and Klassik.com.