Kleif Carnarius, born in Bad Frankenhausen in 1963, received his first cello lessons at the age of five and became an external student at the Special School for Music in Weimar in 1970, becoming a regular student in 1975. He studied at the University of Music Franz Liszt Weimar with Lieselotte Pieper and furthered his chamber music training with Erich Vieweg and Karl Suske. He gained further artistic inspiration through studies with the Smetana Quartet in Prague, masterclasses with the Amadeus Quartet and private postgraduate studies with Peter Vogler in Berlin.

In 1978, he founded the Nasdala Quartet together with Carola Nasdala, Andreas Schulik and Frank Strauch. In 1983, they received a special prize at the international quartet competition in Évian, which led to concerts in numerous European countries and Korea and brought him international recognition. After completing his studies, he was appointed artistic assistant at the University of Music Franz Liszt Weimar.

Since 1989, Kleif Carnarius has been principal cellist of the Komische Oper Berlin and, in the same year, he was appointed to a teaching position at the Hanns Eisler Academy of Music in Berlin, where he has been an honorary professor since 2013.

His solo career has taken him to the Jena Philharmonic Orchestra, the Weimar State Orchestra, the Halle Philharmonic Orchestra, the Neubrandenburg Philharmonic Orchestra and the orchestra of the Komische Oper Berlin, among others. Concert tours have taken him throughout Europe and Asia.

His competition successes include awards at the Heran Competition in Usti nad Orlice (1977), the Bach Competition in Leipzig (1978), the medal at the Maria Canals Competition in Barcelona (1986) and the prize of the Brahms Society Baden-Baden (1991). He has also been awarded the Mendelssohn Scholarship twice.
From 1989 to 1998, Kleif Carnarius was principal cellist of the New Berlin Chamber Orchestra and participated in several recordings. In 1997, he founded the artenius trio together with Mika Yonezawa and Karyon Pak (later Katia Tchemberdji), with whom he performed in Germany, Europe and Japan and produced CDs.