Anne-Sophie Mutter

Anne-Sophie Mutter is a musical phenomenon: for nearly five decades 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 Lutoslawski, 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. In the autumn of 1997, she founded the Association of Friends of the Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation e.V., to which the Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation was added in 2008. These two charitable institutions provide support for the scholarship recipients, support which is tailored to the fellows’ individual needs. 

Her first recording was released in 1978: Mozart’s Violin Concerto no. 3 and no. 5 with Herbert von Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic. Since then, she has made numerous recordings, for which Anne-Sophie Mutter has received four Grammies, nine Echo Classic Awards, the German Recording Award, the Record Academy Prize, the Grand Prix du Disque and the International Phono Award. In August 2019, Across the Stars, her album with some of the most brilliant works by John Williams, was released, for which Williams adapted most of the recorded works especially for her. “Composed especially for Anne-Sophie Mutter” is the inscription John Williams added to his Violin Concerto no. 2, which the two of them premiered together on July 24, 2021 with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. In September 2021 the new work was recorded with the same cast as its world premiere, complemented by several new film themes. This CD was released in June 2022.

In February 2025, Anne-Sophie Mutter was honoured with the Grand Staufer Medal in Gold by Baden-Württemberg's Minister President Winfried Kretschmann. Poland awarded the Gloria Artis Gold Medal for Cultural Achievements to Anne-Sophie Mutter in 2018, making her the first German artist to receive such an honour. The violinist has been awarded the German Grand Order of Merit, 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.