Niklas Eppinger received his first cello lessons at the age of 7 with Mechthild Wagner in Frankfurt/Main. After four years of study with Daniel Graf, principal cellist of the Frankfurt Opera, he was a guest student with Julius Berger in Saarbrücken in 1988. After studying for two years in London with William Pleeth and Christopher Bunting, Niklas Eppinger began his studies in 1991 at the Musikhochschule Lübeck with Thomas Grossenbacher. In 1994, he moved to the Musikhochschule Hamburg to study with Prof. Bernhard Gmelin, with whom he completed his concert exam "with distinction" in October 2001. Niklas Eppinger has already won a considerable number of national and international prizes. He won the Elise Meyer Competition in Hamburg in 1995, the Mendelssohn Prize in Berlin in 1996, the Federal Selection at the German Music Council in Bonn in 1996, and the 47th International Competition of the ARD in Munich in 1998. His success brought him further awards such as the "Wilhelm Weichsler" Prize, the "Brüder-Busch-Preis" and a scholarship from the Märkische Kulturkonferenz.

In June 2001 he won the 1st prize at the "Leonard Rose" International Cello Competition in Maryland/USA.

Niklas Eppinger performs regularly in Germany and abroad. He has performed for the German President in Berlin, the Norddeutscher Rundfunk/Hamburg, the SüdwestFunk/Stuttgart, the "Alte Oper" Frankfurt, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the Bergen Festival in Norway, the Interart-Festival in Budapest, the International Music Days in Liestal/Switzerland, the Schleswig-Holstein Festival, the Santa Barbara Music Festival in California, and in Japan.

He has worked with numerous orchestras as a soloist, including the Saarbrücken Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Osnabrück Symphony Orchestra, the Northwest German Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra, the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, the Cappella Istropolitana, the NDR-Hannover, and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.

As a chamber musician, he has performed with renowned musicians such as Gidon Kremer, Yuri Bashmet, Christoph Eschenbach, Peter-Lukas Graf, and Eugen Istomin. He attended master classes with William Pleeth, Robert Cohen, David Geringas, Arto Noras, Sigfried Palm, and Harvey Schapiero.

Niklas Eppinger plays on a Gaspare Lorenzini violoncello from 1750.