Born in Vladikavkaz, Russia, German Tcakulov began his musical education in his home town with violin, viola and piano. At the age of 15, he continued his viola studies with Prof. Vladimir Stopichev at the special music school of the St. Petersburg Conservatory, before transferring to the St. Petersburg Conservatory after four years. At the age of 21, he went to Germany, where he completed his bachelor's and master's degrees in viola at the Hanns Eisler Academy of Music in Berlin with Tabea Zimmermann.
In 2013, he was a scholarship holder of the Lucia Loeser Foundation and won numerous prizes at international competitions, including Charles Hennen in Holland, Jyväskylä in Finland, Mravinsky in Russia and the ‘start-up! music’ prize from the Hanns Eisler University of Music. From 2018 to 2022 he was a member of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (BR). As an orchestral musician, he has worked with conductors such as Mariss Jansons, Simon Rattle, Daniel Barenboim, Bernard Haitink, Herbert Blomstedt, Ivan Fischer, Daniel Harding, John Eliot Gardiner, Daniele Gatti and Valery Gergiev.
His chamber music partners include Stephan Forck, Ulf Wallin, Tabea Zimmermann, Claudio Bohórquez, Stephan Pickard, Boris Garlitsky, Wen-Sinn Young, Ingolf Turban, Thomas Hoppe and Frank van de Laar. Invitations to festivals have taken him to the AIMS Festival in Spain, Murten Classics, the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival and the Otzberg Summer Concerts, among others. From 2017 to 2022, he worked as a lecturer at the Hanns Eisler School of Music in Berlin and was assistant to Tabea Zimmermann. From 2021 to 2023, he taught his own viola class at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich. In summer 2022, he was appointed Professor of Viola at the University of Music in Karlsruhe. He also imparts his knowledge and expertise at the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole/Florence and gives masterclasses worldwide. He will take up his professorship at the Mozarteum University in autumn 2024.
He plays two modern French violas by Patrick Robin and Roland Belleguic.