Rudolf Leopold was born in 1954 in Vienna. He studied the violoncello at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, being taught there by Richard Krotschak and Tobias Kühne. In addition he also studied piano and composition. He was a member of the Vienna String Sextet – with this ensemble he toured the whole of Europe, the United States of America and Japan, and was invited to perform at the Salzburg Festival as well as at the Edinburgh Festival. Numerous recordings for EMI and Pan Classics followed, some of which award-winning.

For years Rudolf Leopold also was a solo cellist in Nikolaus Harnoncourt’s "Concentus Musicus". As a soloist Leopold has also played rarely performed cello concerts such as Monn, Enescu and Dohnányi as well as many modern works with orchestra. Between 1983 and 1990 Rudolf Leopold worked as a lecturer for chamber music at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. After that he became professor for violoncello at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz.