Anne-Sophie Mutter

For 35 years, violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter has sustained a career of exceptional musicianship with an unwavering commitment to the future of classical music. Since her international début in 1976 at the age of 13, followed by a solo appearance with Karajan, Mutter has appeared in all the major concert halls of the world. Cited by The Chicago Tribune for doing more than “any living violinist to enrich the late 20th century violin repertory”, Mutter has had new works composed for her by Sebastian Currier, Witold Lutosławski, Krzysztof Penderecki, Sir André Previn and Wolfgang Rihm. She also devotes her time to numerous charity projects and supports the development of young, exceptionally talented musicians.

In 2011, at her 35th stage anniversary, she toured with “Mutter‘s Virtuosi”, an new ensemble under the musical direction of Mutter, consists of 14 current and former scholarship holders of the Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation to 11 European cities. The Mutter Virtuosi will tour Asia in 2013.

The honours afforded Mutter for her many recordings include the German Record Prize, the Grand Prix du Disque, the International Record Prize and several Grammies.

For Mozart’s 250th birthday, Mutter recorded all of his major compositions for violin. She also marks the Bicentenary of Mendelssohn’s birth with an album of his symphonic and chamber music. For her 35th stage anniversary, a comprehensive box set with all of her DG recordings was released. In concurrence, the live recording of the New York première of Wolfgang Rihm’s Lichtes Spiel and Sebastian Currier’s Time Machines (its world première given by Mutter in 2011 with the New York Philharmonic) will be released.

In 2010, Anne-Sophie Mutter was awarded the Doctor Honoris Causa from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim. She is a bearer of the Grand Order of Merit of the German Federal Republic, the French Order of the Legion of Honor, the Bavarian Order of Merit, the Great Austrian Order of Merit, among many other awards. She was also awarded Musical America’s 2011 Musician of the Year Award.