Björn Colell studied guitar at Berlin University of the Arts with Mariangeles Sánchez-Benimeli. He graduated with honours, qualifying as a guitar teacher and concert performer. He expanded his training through studies in lute and historical performance practice at the Royal College of Music in London with Jakob Lindberg, as well as through an artistic final examination at the University of the Arts Berlin.
His concert and recording activities range from solo performances and chamber music to participation in orchestral works and operas as a continuo player. His intensive international concert career has taken him to the most prominent venues in Europe, Japan and North and South America. Notable venues include Carnegie Hall in New York, London's Royal Albert Hall, the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires and, of course, the Berlin Philharmonie.
He is a guest performer with several ensembles specialising in historical performance practice, including the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, the Drottningholm Baroque Orchestra and the Berlin Baroque Soloists. He also enjoys performing in successful duo formations. As well as his permanent partnership with baroque violinist Georg Kallweit in the ensemble Ombra e Luce, he has performed in duos with renowned instrumentalists and singers, including Maurice Steger and Philippe Jaroussky.
He has appeared on numerous CD recordings, as well as on radio and television. Critics and audiences alike celebrate his special quality as a sensitive yet virtuoso accompanist. CD recordings featuring Björn Colell, such as Gluck Italian Arias with Cecilia Bartoli, or collaborations with Maurice Steger, have won numerous awards, including the ECHO, Grammy and Choc de la Musique. These recordings have also enjoyed international success.
He has taught historical plucked instruments at the conservatoires in Leipzig, Dresden, Weimar and Berlin. Since 2016, he has taught lute, theorbo, guitar, chamber music and basso continuo at Nuremberg University of Music. Masterclasses for lutenists and guitarists complement his teaching activities.
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