Feb 2026
Estonian National Independence Day reception
Performed at the Estonian National Independence Day reception in Dubai, with President Alar Karis present, alongside prominent UAE figures.
Kaur Nellis
An Estonian cellist who works where classical music usually doesn’t — alongside DJs, dancers and aerialists, from state receptions to club stages. Across Europe and the Gulf region.
- 150+
- Performances
- 3
- Roles, one practice
- 2025
- In the Gulf since
01
The same musician in every room
Kaur Nellis is a cellist, DJ and producer from Estonia. He plays as a soloist in front of an orchestra, as a section player under Neeme Järvi and Kristjan Järvi, behind a DJ booth, and on stages beside dancers and aerialists — more than 150 performances so far.
What connects them is an approach rather than a repertoire. He treats the cello, the laptop and a pair of decks as one instrument, and builds a set the way a producer builds a track — around contrast, tension and release. The discipline behind it never changes. The room does, and so does what the room asks for.
Since 2025 Kaur’s work has also expanded into the Gulf region.
02
The Gulf
Since 2025 Kaur has worked continuously across Saudi Arabia and the UAE — not as a visiting soloist taking one-off bookings, but as a musician building something in the region.
He has performed for heads of state and government ministers, taught Saudi students, produced a 50-person orchestral project, and formed lasting working relationships with local musicians, institutions and embassies. The result is a presence that comes from returning, not visiting.
Estonian National Independence Day reception. President Alar Karis present, alongside prominent UAE figures.
Dec 2025
Saudi–Nordic Concert Project — “Metsä”
“Metsä” is an audio-visual immersive concert experience about Nordic nature and culture, performed by the 50-person Crescendo Nordics orchestra with a nature film projected behind the players. Created by Lasse Heikkilä and Veikko Ruohotie. Project produced by Kaur Nellis, with creative and artistic direction alongside Lehari Kaustel. Performed at the Circular Economy Forum reception.
Delivered with the Estonian Embassy in Abu Dhabi, the Music Commission, Saudi Music Hub, Lamor, Al Faris International School, VOCO, the Ministry of Culture and the Saudi-Estonian Business Council. symphony.saudi-nordic.org
The Estonian climate minister, the Crown Prince of Montenegro, four Saudi
princesses, Estonian Ambassador Maria Belovas, and a business delegation.
Dec 2025
Saudi–Nordic duo with Mohammed Alguthmi
Several performances together with KSA cellist Mohammed Alguthmi. The two most significant: a Saudi–Nordic duo before a high-profile audience, and a solo improvisational set with him at the Circular Economy Forum reception.
Dec 2025
Two school concerts
Two concerts at Al Faris International School, part of the Saudi–Nordic project’s programme in Riyadh. The school was one of the project’s delivery partners, alongside the Estonian Embassy in Abu Dhabi, the Music Commission and Saudi Music Hub. The same Nordic programme, played for an audience of students rather than invited guests.
Sep 2025
Reception of Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna
A solo performance at the reception of Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna in Riyadh. A standalone engagement, separate from the Saudi–Nordic project that followed in December. Solo cello in front of an invited diplomatic audience, with no ensemble to sit behind.
Aug 2025
Workshop at Saudi Music Hub
The first Western-Estonian cello music workshop given at Saudi Music Hub — on Estonian music, his own journey as a player, and how he approaches creativity and improvisation. Saudi Music Hub is one of the institutions building music education in the country, and the session put Estonian repertoire in front of Saudi students and players who had not encountered it. It was his first engagement in Saudi Arabia, and the start of everything that followed.
03
Range on stage
He works alongside other performers and other art forms, and he is not precious about it.
On a shared stage the cello has to hold its own against choreography, lighting and a room that did not come for chamber music. That changes how you play and what you choose to play. Some of it is written; a lot of it is decided in the moment.
With Lisann Lumet, aerialist and pole artist
Several performances between 2024 and 2026 at private events. The signature piece is Arvo Pärt’s Spiegel im Spiegel, played live on cello against pole and aerial choreography — but much of the work is improvised, with the music and the movement finding each other in the moment.
“What I value most about performing with Kaur is the trust. There’s a lot of spontaneity in what we do, and I’ve never once been nervous about something going wrong on stage with him. He comes in with an open mind and his own clear vision at the same time, which is rare. When he plays he isn’t performing the music, he’s inside it — and people tell us afterwards that it looks like the cello and the movement were always meant to belong together. He’s endlessly creative and extremely precise, which don’t usually go together. He’s what it looks like when hard work meets real passion. And he doesn’t talk about any of it. He just shows you.”
04
Nordic Pulse
In Kristjan Järvi’s Nordic Pulse, Kaur is cellist, DJ and producer — all three, in the same ensemble. It is the clearest example of the three roles working together rather than in sequence: the string writing and the electronic production are built at the same time, for the same room. An album recorded with the ensemble is forthcoming.
- Concerts
- Solstice · Meelte Videvik · Afterglow · Nordic Amazonia, plus private events
- Venues
- Kultuurikatel · Tallinn Freedom Square · Pärnu Concert Hall
NÖEP╱Nublu╱Robot Koch╱Cartoon╱DJ Mr Switch╱Puuluup╱Daniel Levi╱Kadri Voorand╱Elina Nechayeva╱
05
Classical foundation
Almost a decade on the cello, studied at Haapsalu Music College and tested in competition and in the orchestra pit. It is the part of the work an audience never sees, and the reason the rest of it holds.
- Education
- Haapsalu Music College — graduated 2025 with commendation and a merit stipend. Teacher: Ingrid Arro. Masterclasses with Marcel Kits.
- Competitions
- Western-Estonian Cello Competition — 1st Prize and the Virtuoso Special Award, 2023. 2nd Prize, 2025.
- As soloist
- Pärnu City Orchestra at Pärnu Concert Hall, 26 March 2026, conducted by Mikk Murdvee.
- Baltic Sea Phil.
- “Midnight Sun” tour, May 2024 — Poland and Germany, under Kristjan Järvi.
- Song Festival
- XXVIII Estonian Song Festival, 2025, with the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre Orchestra.
- Festivals
- Kuressaare Boys’ String Festival · Estonian Cello Festival · Juhannuskonferenssi, and several more
- Conductors
- Neeme Järvi · Kristjan Järvi · Lehari Kaustel · Hirvo Surva · Riivo Jõgi · Rasmus Puur · Mikk Murdvee
- Orchestras
- Haapsalu Orchestra · Crescendo Nordics · Baltic Sea Philharmonic · Nordic Pulse · Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre Orchestra
- Also produces
- Producer at Crescendo Nordics since summer 2025, organising concerts and camps in Finland and Estonia alongside Lehari Kaustel and Lasse Heikkilä.
06
Contrasts
“The music is a way of expressing myself, sharing my emotions, and giving the listener an experience they can feel. It’s a journey — like life itself — with highs and lows, yet its beauty lies in contrasts.”
Neeme Järvi╱Robot Koch
Arvo Pärt╱Cartoon
Estonia Concert Hall╱Stages in Dubai
Riyadh╱Tallinn
07
In their words
“Kaur is one of those rare musicians who’s at home in an orchestra/band environment and behind the decks. In Nordic Pulse he plays cello and DJs — and what holds it together is that he brings the same presence and creative approach to both.”
“There’s a lot of spontaneity in what we do, and I’ve never once been nervous about something going wrong on stage with him. When he plays he isn’t performing the music, he’s inside it. Endlessly creative and extremely precise, which don’t usually go together.”
08
Booking formats
- 01Solo cello
- 02Cello with electronics or a DJ set
- 03Cello with dancers or aerialists
- 04Ensemble and orchestral work
- 05Residencies
- 06Private, corporate and diplomatic events
- Venues to date
- Estonia Concert Hall · Pärnu Concert Hall · Tampere Concert Hall · Kultuurikatel · Tallinn Freedom Square · Al Faris International School Hall
- Private clients
- Muse Stuudio · T1 Mall · Frank Events
09
Performances
Mar 2026
Soloist, Pärnu City Orchestra — Pärnu Concert Hall, conducted by Mikk Murdvee
Feb 2026
Estonian National Independence Day reception — Dubai, with President Alar Karis present
Dec 2025
Saudi–Nordic Concert Project, “Metsä” — Circular Economy Forum reception, Riyadh
Dec 2025
Saudi–Nordic duo with Mohammed Alguthmi — Riyadh
Dec 2025
Two school concerts — Al Faris International School
Sep 2025
Reception of Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna — Riyadh, solo
Aug 2025
Western-Estonian cello music workshop — Saudi Music Hub, Riyadh
2025
XXVIII Estonian Song Festival — Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre Orchestra
2025–26
Nordic Pulse — Solstice, Meelte Videvik, Afterglow, Nordic Amazonia — Kultuurikatel, Tallinn Freedom Square, Pärnu Concert Hall
2024–26
Performances with Lisann Lumet — Arvo Pärt, “Spiegel im Spiegel”, and improvised sets with pole and aerial choreography
May 2024
Baltic Sea Philharmonic, “Midnight Sun” tour — Poland and Germany, under Kristjan Järvi
10
Book Kaur
Based in Estonia. Working across Europe and the Gulf.
He takes bookings solo, with electronics, with dancers and aerialists, or with an ensemble — single nights, multi-night runs and residencies. Tell him the room, the audience and the length of the set, and he will come back with what he would play.
- Press
- Lääne Elu — on the Pärnu Concert Hall solo (Estonian)
- Project
- symphony.saudi-nordic.org — Saudi–Nordic Concert Project