After beginning his studies at the age of ten at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz with Hildgund Posch he went on to study with Heinrich Schiff in Vienna for 7 years.
He received further musical impulses from Boris Pergamenschikow, Steven Isserlis, Ralph Kirshbaum, Anner Bylsma, Ralph Kirsbaum, Frans Helmerson, Arto Noras, Phillipe Muller, Troels Svane and Gary Hoffman.
As a keen chamber musician, Thomas Kaufmann worked with Antonio Meneses, Ferenc Rados, Eberhardt Feltz, Gàbor Takàcs – Nagy, Thomas Quasthoff, Heinrich Schiff, Stefan Vladar, Julian Rachlin, Juliane Banse and members of the Alban Berg, the Rosamunde and the Artemis Quartets.
As a member of the Piano Trio “Trio Imàge” he is winner and Prizewinner of the Schubert, the Joseph Joachim, the Köhler-Osbar and the Folkwang Competitions and a member of the European Chamber Music Academy and works regularly with Hatto Beyerle and Anner Bylsma. He is regularly invited to perform at the Open Chamber Music Festival Prussia Cove and performed at festivals as Beethoven Fest Bonn, Verbier Festival&Academy, Festival Aixen-
provence, Attersee Classics, Haydn Festspiele Eisenstadt and Kyoto International Music Students Festival.
He is regularly performing in Germany, Austria and Japan and gave concerts in Finland, Italy, France, Hungary, Switzerland, England, Spain, Turkey, India and Venezuela and performed as a substitute of the Vienna Philharmonic and as principal Cellist of the Camerata Salzburg.
Thomas Kaufmann is member of the Klangverwaltung Munich and of Martin Grubingers “Strings&Percussion” and is a scholarship holder of the german DAAD, and the swiss foundation “ Thyll-Dürr”.
Thomas Kaufmann plays a cello by Angelo Radrizzani.