Jan Vogler was born on 18 February 1964 in East Berlin and studied cello with his father Peter Vogler, then with Josef Schwab in Berlin, Heinrich Schiff in Basel, and Siegfried Palm. At age 20 he won the principal cello position of the Staatskapelle Dresden, becoming the youngest player in the orchestra’s history to hold that post, before leaving in 1997 to pursue a solo career and relocating to New York with his wife, violinist Mira Wang.

Vogler has performed as soloist with orchestras including the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, and Boston Symphony, plays a 1707 Stradivarius cello, and has won multiple Echo Klassik awards for his Bach Cello Suites recordings. He notably collaborated with actor Bill Murray on the crossover album New Worlds (2017), performing at Carnegie Hall and other major venues, and composer Jörg Widmann dedicated his cello concerto “Dunkle Saiten” to him.