Carolin Widmann

A hugely versatile musician, Carolin Widmann’s activities span the great classical concerti, new commissions specially written for her, solo recitals, a wide variety of chamber music and, increasingly, period instrument performances, including play/direction from the violin.

The 2014/15 season includes the world premiere of a new violin concerto written for her by Julian Anderson, commissioned by Seattle Symphony, London Philharmonic and Deutsche Symphonie-orchester Berlin, a new solo piece by Pascal Dusapin, and her Royal Stockholm Philharmonic début with the Anders Hillborg concerto. She was honoured to be Artist in Residence at the Alte Oper Frankfurt with the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, play/directing on gut strings.

The new seasons begins with Ms Widmann’s return to the Philharmonia Orchestra with the Alban Berg concerto – with which she has a particular affinity - under Christoph von Dohnanyi, with concerts at the Royal Festival Hall, Berliner Festspiele. Mo von Dohnanyi has also invited Ms Widmann to make her Sydney Symphony début with him, again playing Berg.

A regular visitor to London’s Wigmore Hall, Ms Widmann enjoys highly-praised duo partnerships with pianists Alexander Lonquich and Dénes Várjon, with whom she records for ECM Records. She has recently recorded the Schumann and Mendelssohn concerti with Chamber Orchestra of Europe to be released in 2016.

Her discs of Schubert and Schumann sonatas received critical acclaim including the “Diapason d'Or” and the German Record Critics' Award.

In 2006, Carolin Widmann's debut CD,

“Reflections I”, was named “Critics' Choice” by the German Record Critics’ Award Association. Her recording of the Morton Feldman’s concerto “Violin and Orchestra” with Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra under Emilio Pomárico was released in 2013.

Ms Widmann has played with Leipzig Gewandhaus, Orchestre National de France, Tonhalle Zurich, Czech Philharmonic, Vienna Radio Symphony, London Philharmonic, BBC Symphony, Bayerische Rundfunk, with distinguished conductors such as Sir Simon Rattle, Riccardo Chailly, Sir Roger Norrington, Vladimir Jurowski, Jonathan Nott, and Pablo Heras-Casado.

Voted ‘Artist of the Year’ at the 2013 International Classical Music Awards, Ms Widmann is a keen chamber musician. She regularly appears at such widely known festivals as Berliner Festspieler, Salzburg, Lucerne, Festival d' Automne and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.

Carolin Widmann was born in Munich and studied with Igor Ozim in Cologne, Michèle Auclair in Boston and David Takeno at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. 

Since 2006, she has been professor of violin at Leipzig’s University of Music and Theatre “Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy”.

Carolin Widmann plays a G .B. Guadagnini violin from 1782.

September 2015