Anne-Sophie Mutter Violinist
Anne-Sophie Mutter is a musical phenomenon: for 48 years the virtuoso has now been a fixture in all the world’s major concert halls, making her mark on the classical music scene as a soloist, mentor and visionary. The four-time Grammy® Award winner is equally committed to the performance of traditional composers as to the future of music.
So far she has given world premieres of 31 works – Thomas Adès, Unsuk Chin, Sebastian Currier, Henri Dutilleux, Sofia Gubaidulina, Witold Lutosławski, Norbert Moret, Krzysztof Penderecki, Sir André Previn, Wolfgang Rihm, Jörg Widmann and John Williams have all composed for Anne-Sophie Mutter. She dedicates herself to supporting tomorrow’s musical elite and numerous benefit projects. Furthermore, the board of trustees of the German cancer charity “Deutsche Krebshilfe” elected her the new president of the non-profit organization in 2021. Since January 2022, she joins the foundation board of the Lucerne Festival. In the autumn of 1997 she founded the “Freundeskreis Anne-Sophie Mutter Stiftung e.V.”, to which the Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation was added in 2008. These two charitable institutions provide support for the scholarship recipients, which is tailored to the fellows’ individual needs. Since 2011, Anne-Sophie Mutter has regularly shared the spotlight on stage with her ensemble of fellows, “Mutter’s Virtuosi”.
Anne-Sophie Mutter’s concert calendar in 2024 features performances in Asia, Europe and North America, once again reflecting the musical versatility of the violinist and her unprecedented standing in the world of classical music. Numerous compositions dedicated to her will be part of these concerts; in many countries, they will be performed for the first time.
At the beginning of the year, Mutter gave the British premiere of the Violin Concerto No. 2, which John Williams dedicated to her, as well as the Hollywood legend’s film scores in London. Her musical partners were the London Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor Jonathon Hayward.
The end of this January will feature concerts in Los Angeles, where she will play the Brahms Double Concerto with cellist Pablo Ferrández, a fellow of her Foundation, as well as the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Gustavo Dudamel’s baton.
She will appear at the Mozart Week in Salzburg with two programmes: the Sinfonia Concertante will be performed with violist Michael Barenboim; Lahav Shani will conduct the Vienna Philharmonic. For the four Piano Trios, she will join forces with pianist Lauma Skride and cellist Maximilian Hornung, an alumnus of her Foundation.
In March, Mutter will tour Asia, where she will ring in the 36th year of her musical collaboration with pianist Lambert Orkis. The programme will include works by Mozart, Respighi, Schubert and Clara Schumann. The two exceptional musicians will also perform this programme in Europe during the second half of the year.
Williams’ Violin Concerto No. 2 will also have its first performance in Israel: in April in Haifa and Tel Aviv; in both cities, Mutter will also perform Beethoven’s Violin Concerto.
Commemorating the 30th anniversary of Witold Lutosławski’s death, in Warsaw Mutter will perform the orchestral version of the Partita, a work dedicated to her, as well as the Polish composer’s Chain 2 and Interlude. Andrzej Boreyko will conduct the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra.
Lutosławski’s Partita will also be performed in Leipzig and in London, where it will be combined with Tomas Adès’ Air – Homage to Sibelius, which the composer dedicated to the violinist and which will have its German and British premieres. In Leipzig, Andris Nelsons will conduct the Gewandhaus Orchestra; in the British metropolis, Thomas Adès will conduct the London Symphony Orchestra.
During her June tour of Europe, Williams’ Violin Concerto No. 2 will once more be the focus of attention, and Mutter will perform it with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Fabio Luisi.
She will also perform film themes by Williams during the “Klassik am Odeonsplatz” event in Munich – with the Munich Philharmonic under the baton of Lahav Shani.
The Brahms Violin Concerto will be on the programme during the second half of the year in Europe with the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra. During another European tour, Mutter will play the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto together with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and its music director Manfred Honeck.
Mutter is going to conclude her 2024 concert year with Williams’ Violin Concerto No. 2 as well as selected film themes – together with the Hollywood legend at the helm of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
In June 2023, Anne-Sophie Mutter received the Prize of the Ruhr Piano Festival, and the Royal Philharmonic Society honoured her with its Gold Medal. The Krzysztof Penderecki Music Academy in Cracow bestowed an honorary doctorate on her in March 2022. In 2019, Anne-Sophie Mutter was honoured to receive the Praemium Imperiale in the music category; in June she received the Polar Music Prize. Poland awarded the Gloria Artis Medal for Merit to Culture to Anne-Sophie Mutter in 2018, making her the first German artist to receive such an honour. In February 2018 the violinist was named an honorary member of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. Romania awarded the Order of Cultural Merit in the rank of a Grand Officer to Anne-Sophie Mutter in 2017; during the same month France honoured her by presenting her with the insignia of a Commander of the French Order of the Arts and Literature. In 2016, the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports awarded her the “Medalla de oro al Mérito en las Bellas Artes” (Gold Medal for Merits in the Fine Arts). In 2015 Anne-Sophie Mutter was named an Honorary Fellow of Keble College at the University of Oxford. In 2013 she became a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, after winning the medal of the Lutosławski Society (Warsaw) in January. In 2012 the Atlantic Council bestowed the Distinguished Artistic Leadership Award upon her. In 2011 she received the Brahms Prize, the Erich Fromm Prize and the Gustav Adolf Prize for her social activism. In 2010 the Technical-Scientific University of Norway in Trondheim bestowed an honorary doctorate upon her; in 2009 she won the Premio Europeo St. Ulrich as well as the Cristóbal Gabarrón Award. In 2008 Anne-Sophie Mutter was the recipient of the International Ernst von Siemens Music Prize as well as the Leipzig Mendelssohn Prize.
The violinist has been awarded the Grand Cross Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, the French Medal of the Legion of Honour, the Bavarian Order of Merit, the Decoration of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria, and numerous other honours.
Lambert Orkis Pianist
Lambert Orkis has received international recognition as chamber musician, interpreter of contemporary music, and performer on period instruments. He has appeared in recital with violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter since 1988 and had performed with cellist Mstislav Rostropovich for more than eleven years. In acknowledgment of his accomplishments, he was honored with Germany’s Cross of the Order of Merit.
His distinguished career also includes major recital appearances with cellists Lynn Harrell, Anner Bylsma, Daniel MüllerSchott, Pablo Ferrández, Maximilian Hornung, Amanda Forsyth and Tanja Tetzlaff, violinist Julian Rachlin, and violist Steven Dann, and he has performed with the Vertavo, Emerson, American, Mendelssohn, Curtis, Manchester, Goldner, and Elias String Quartets, and the Arcadia Winds. As soloist he has made appearances with conductors including Christoph Eschenbach, Mstislav Rostropovich, Leonard Slatkin, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Günther Herbig, John Mauceri, Robert Kapilow, Leon Fleisher, Kenneth Slowik, and others.
A Grammy Award winner and multi-Grammy Award nominee, his wide discography comprises works of the classical, romantic, and modern eras on many labels. With Anne-Sophie Mutter, he has frequently recorded for Deutsche Grammophon, winning a Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance for the Beethoven piano and violin sonatas, and a 2006 Choc de l’année award for the Mozart piano and violin sonatas audio recording. Released by Sony Classical in November 2022 is a recording of Clara Schumann’s piano trio with cellist Pablo Ferrández. He has also recorded works of Brahms, Schumann, and Chopin/Franchomme with Dutch cellist Anner Bylsma for Sony Classical/Vivarte, and with violist Steven Dann he appears on an ATMA Classique disc of works by Brahms. Mr. Orkis has premiered and recorded works of numerous composers, including Krzysztof Penderecki, George Crumb, André Previn, Richard Wernick, Sebastian Currier, Stephen Jaffe, and James Primosch. With the National Symphony Orchestra's principal cellist David Hardy, and using both modern and period instruments, he performs Beethoven's cycle of works for piano and cello on the Sono Luminus label.
He premiered in Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Wernick’s Piano Concerto which was written for him, the National Symphony Orchestra of Washington and, as conductor, Mstislav Rostropovich. For the Bridge Records recording, Mr. Orkis is paired with Symphony II of Chicago. The European premiere took place with Mr. Orkis and Het Residentie Orkest of The Hague, The Netherlands. In both instances, the composer conducted.
Appearing regularly at the most prestigious festivals throughout the world, he has twice been engaged as distinguished performing artist and teacher for Australia’s Musica Viva Festival. Three times he has served as juror of and performed for the Trondheim International Chamber Music Competition and Festival, most recently as chairman of the jury as well as performer. The Carnegie Hall International American Music Competition for Pianists and the Kennedy Center Friedheim Awards Competition have engaged him as adjudicator. As an Honored Artist for New Aspect International Music Festival, he performed and presented master classes in Taipei.
Mr. Orkis is a founding member of the Kennedy Center Chamber Players and the Smithsonian Institution's Castle Trio (period instruments), and holds the positions of principal keyboard of the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C., and Professor of Piano at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Mr. Orkis owes much of his musical life to the guidance of Polish pianist Maryan Filar and the legendary Eleanor Sokoloff.