Born in Munich and raised in Spain, Sebastian Klinger received his first cello lessons at the age of six. He later studied with Heinrich Schiff in Salzburg and Vienna and with Boris Pergamenschikow in Berlin.

After winning numerous national and international awards at various competitions and foundations, he won the German Music Competition in Berlin in 2001. This was followed by debuts at important German festivals such as Schleswig-Holstein, Rheingau, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Ludwigsburg, as well as multiple recitals at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam. On the initiative of the Philharmonie in Cologne, he was then invited to perform as part of the Rising Stars Series of the European Concert Hall Organization, which eventually took him to some of the most important music centers in Europe and the United States - Carnegie Hall New York, Wigmore Hall London, Palais des Beaux-Arts Brussels, Konserthus Stockholm, Konzerthaus Vienna, Concert Hall Athens and others.

Meanwhile Sebastian Klinger performs as a soloist with orchestras such as the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia Rome, the Gulbenkian Orchestra Lisbon, the Hong Kong Sinfonietta, the Munich Chamber Orchestra, the Munich and Hamburg Symphony Orchestras, the National Orchestra of the RAI Turin, the Orchestra of the Beethovenhalle Bonn, the Johannesburg Symphony Orchestra, the Staatskapelle Weimar and the German Radio Philharmonic Orchestra. He has worked with conductors such as Mariss Jansons, Antoni Wit, Mario Venzago, Christoph Poppen, Joseph Bastian, Daniel Cohen, Simon Gaudenz, Pedro Halffter, Antony Hermus, Oksana Lyniv, Markus Poschner, Michael Sanderling, Shiyeon Sung, Constantin Trinks, Joshua Weilerstein and Yip Wing-sie.

Sebastian Klinger's numerous chamber music partners include Valéry Afanassiev, Kit Armstrong, Silke Avenhaus, Yuri Bashmet, Lisa Batiashvili, Milana Chernyavska, Ana Chumachenko, Veronika Eberle, Tobias Feldmann, Liza Ferschtman, Johannes Fischer, Julia Fischer, Vilde Frang, Christian Gerhaher, Kirill Gerstein, Boris Giltburg, Janine Jansen, Gidon Kremer, Lang Lang, Francois Leleux, Alexander Lonquich, Yo-Yo Ma, Plamena Mangova, Lena Neudauer, Alice Sara Ott, Enrico Pace, Emmanuel Pahud, Lawrence Power, Gil Shaham, Marianna Shirinyan, Baiba Skride, Antoine Tamestit, Alexandre Tharaud, Jörg Widmann, Natalia Prischepenko (Artemis Quartet), Arnold Steinhardt (Guarneri Quartet), the Belcea, the Fauré, the Goldmund, the Notos, the Philharmonia and the Rosamunde Quartets.

His discography, for which he has already been awarded a "Diapason d'Or" (Bach cello suites), includes solo works, chamber music and orchestral repertoire on the Oehms Classics, Sony Classical and Deutsche Grammophon labels, among others, including a chamber music recording with Lisa Batiashvili, Francois Leleux and Lawrence Power, as well as his duo CD with pianist Milana Chernyavska and French repertoire. Sebastian Klinger's latest CD focuses on works by Dvořák: the Cello Concerto Op. 104, recorded with the Deutsche Radiophilharmonie under Simon Gaudenz, and the Dumky Trio with Lisa Batiashvili and Milana Chernyavska.

Sebastian Klinger was first principal cellist in the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra for a total of 13 years under chief conductors Mariss Jansons and Sir Simon Rattle, where he worked with almost all the great conductors of our time.

In 2015, he was appointed to the cello professorship at the Hamburg University of Music and Theatre, where he has led a very successful cello class ever since. Many of his former students now hold solo and tutti positions in major German orchestras.

Sebastian Klinger plays on an instrument by Camillus Camilli, Mantua 1736.