The Beethovenfest Bonn, Germany has announced that Steven Walter will be its new artistic director starting in 2022, succeeding Nike Wagner, who will be stepping down in 2021.

Walter edged out nine other candidates. Steven Walter is a cellist who founded the festival Podium Esslingen in 2009.

Wagner, the great-granddaughter of the legendary composer, has been at the head of the festival since 2014 and shifted the event’s repertory to focus less on symphonic works and more on chamber music.

Wagner is also the author of several books and earned the Order of Merit of the Free State of Thuringia in 2013.

The announcement of her stepping down comes days after Katharina Wagner, another great-granddaughter of the composer, stepped down from her position as the head of the Bayreuth Festival due to a long-term illness.

The Beethovenfest Bonn is still scheduled to take place in September.