Kersten McCall, Principal Flute of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam since 2005, was born in Freiburg, Germany as the son of composer Brent McCall. He grew up in Donaueschingen, where the Donaueschingen Festival for contemporary music is still held every October. It was in this rich musical environment that McCall took up the flute at the age of nine. He later studied with teachers such as Felix Renggli, Renate Greiss and Aurele Nicolet. Between 1997 and 2005 he was Principal Flute of the Saarbrucken Radio Symphony Orchestra, Germany.

Kersten McCall is a first prize winner of the Kobe International Flute Competition and won prizes at competitions like ARD Munich, Prague Spring and Mendelssohn Wettbewerb Berlin. He was invited as guest Principal Flute in orchestras like the Berlin and the New York Philharmonic, the Orchestra of the Bayerische Rundfunk and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

As a soloist he has played with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Camerata Academica Salzburg, Les Violons du Roy, Lahti Symphony, the Radio Orchestras of Saarbru¨cken, Helsinki and Hilversum, the Sharoun-Ensemble and many others, and has worked with conductors such as Kurt Masur, Sandor Vegh, George Benjamin, Thomas Hengelbrock, Martyn Brabbins and Jukka-Pekka Saraste. He has toured many countries in the far- and middle east, South America, Russia and most European countries.

In 1996 he founded the ensemble est!est!!est!!! for contemporary music and performance which won severalprizes in Germany. Kersten McCall is a member of the Linos-Ensemble and is teaches at the Amsterdam Conservatory.