Achmad Kevin Ihza: Anne Sophie

Anne-Sophie Mutter's Vita

Anne-Sophie Mutter is a musical phenomenon: for 40 years the virtuoso has now been a fixture on the international stages of the world’s major concert halls, making her mark on the classical music scene as a soloist, mentor and visionary. The year 2017 marks the 40-year anniversary of her debut as a soloist at the Salzburg Whitsun Concerts under Herbert von Karajan’s baton, which took place when she was 13, on May 28, 1977.

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 24 works – Sebastian Currier, Henri Dutilleux, Sofia Gubaidulina, Witold Lutoslawski, Norbert Moret, Krzysztof Penderecki, Sir André Previn and Wolfgang Rihm have all composed for Anne-Sophie Mutter. Furthermore, she dedicates herself to numerous benefit projects and to supporting tomorrow’s musical elite: 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. Since 2011, Anne-Sophie Mutter has regularly shared the spotlight on stage with her ensemble of fellows, “Mutter’s Virtuosi”.

The year 2017, featuring concerts in Europe in North America, reflects the violinist’s musical versatility and illustrates her unparalleled rank in the world of classical music. At the Tanglewood Festival, she performs the world premiere of John Williams’ work Markings for solo violin, strings and harp. She also appears at the Salzburg Whitsun and Summer Festivals, at the Lucerne Summer Festival and La Scala in Milan, as well as performing with the Berlin Philharmonic, the Staatskapelle Berlin, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Gewandhaus Orchestra, the London Philharmonic, the London Symphony Orchestra and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Together with “Mutter’s Virtuosi” and the exceptional pianist Daniil Trifonov, she performs the Trout Quintet as well as The Four Seasons. Together with her long-standing duo partner Lambert Orkis, she gives recitals in Europe and in North America.

Concerts in 2017
Anne-Sophie Mutter starts the year 2017 with a recital tour: concerts in Germany, England, France, the Netherlands, Austria and Switzerland take Anne-Sophie Mutter and Lambert Orkis into the 29^th year of their musical partnership. In January and February they perform works by Sebastian Currier, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Francis Poulenc, Maurice Ravel, Ottorino Respighi and Camille Saint-Saëns. The duo’s recording of Beethoven’s Sonatas for Piano and Violin won a Grammy Award, among others, and their recording of Mozart’s Sonatas for Piano and Violin was awarded the prize of the French magazine Le Monde de la Musique.

Together with the Orchestre National de France conducted by Ken David Masur, Anne-Sophie Mutter appears in concert in Paris in February, paying homage to the memory of Maestro Kurt Masur. The programme features Henri Dutilleux’ Sur le même accord and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 1 in B-flat major K. 207. The violinist recorded the contemporary work with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France under Kurt Masur and the Mozart Violin Concerto in 1991 with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields under Sir Neville Marriner, and again in 2005 with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, where the soloist also led the orchestra.

In March 2017 Anne-Sophie Mutter appears in concert with a member of her soloist ensemble “Mutter’s Virtuosi”: together with cellist Pablo Ferrández she performs the Brahms Double Concerto – Vladimir Jurowski conducts the London Philharmonic Orchestra. This work has also been recorded by Anne-Sophie Mutter: in 1993 with António Meneses, the Berlin Philharmonic and Herbert von Karajan.

The violinist will perform Beethoven’s Violin Concerto in Leipzig with the Gewandhaus Orchestra under Herbert Blomstedt. This outstanding work of violin literature was recorded by Anne-Sophie Mutter both with Herbert von Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic and with Kurt Masur and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra.

In late March, Anne-Sophie Mutter and Lambert Orkis set out on a tour of the USA which takes them to Carnegie Hall, to San Francisco and Chicago, among other stops.

At the Berlin Philharmonic, the Beethoven Violin Concerto is one the programme again in April – combined with Nostalghia by Toru Takemitsu. Her musical partners in the German capital will be the Staatskapelle Berlin and Daniel Barenboim.

Subsequently, Anne-Sophie Mutter will perform the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto and Nostalghia on four nights in Boston – together with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and conductor Andris Nelsons.

In May, the violinist performs Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in London, with Sir Mark Elder at the helm of the London Symphony Orchestra. This work has also been recorded twice so far by the artist: a 1988 recording with the Berlin Philharmonic under Herbert von Karajan was followed by another with the Vienna Philharmonic and Sir André Previn in 2004.

Together with the Philharmonia Zurich under the baton of Fabio Luisi, Anne-Sophie Mutter plays Max Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1 as well as Nostalghia: this tour takes the artists through Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Luxembourg. The violinist recorded the Bruch Violin Concerto with the Berlin Philharmonic and Herbert von Karajan in 1982.

May will see the first anniversary celebration in 2017 when Riccardo Muti conducts the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto, paying homage to 40 years of the artistic partnership between Anne-Sophie Mutter and the Berlin Philharmonic.

On June 4, the anniversary concert “40 Years: Anne-Sophie Mutter at the Salzburg Festival” follows. On this evening, the artist also enables talented young colleagues to make their Salzburg debut. Together with the string ensemble “Mutter’s Virtuosi”, which unites scholarship recipients of the Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation, she will play Schubert’s Trout Quintet and Vivaldi’s Four Seasons – joined at the piano by pianist Daniil Trifonov. One day later, the audience in Baden-Baden has a chance to enjoy the performance of these exceptional musicians.

La Scala in Milan is the next stop on the 2017 concert calendar: on three evenings, Anne-Sophie Mutter will perform the Brahms Violin Concerto with the Filarmonica della Scala under the baton of Riccardo Chailly. This work was recorded by the artist both with Herbert von Karajan and again with Kurt Masur.

On July 16, the violinist introduces her audience once again to musical terra incognita: together with the Boston Symphony Orchestra under Andris Nelsons, Anne-Sophie Mutter gives the world premiere of John Williams’ Markings – a work for solo violin, strings and harp which the composer dedicated to the soloist. On the same evening in Tanglewood, she also performs the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto.

Anne-Sophie Mutter returns from her summer break with another recital tour, performing with Lambert Orkis at the festivals in Schleswig-Holstein, Gstaad and Salzburg.

At the Salzburg Summer Festival, she also performs with Manfred Honeck, who conducts the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. On August 29, the programme features music by Witold Lutoslawski: his Partita for Violin and Orchestra and Chain 2 – Dialogue for Violin and Orchestra. The Partita was dedicated to her by the composer, and the violinist made the first recordings of both works in 1988, in which Witold Lutoslawski conducted the BBC Symphony Orchestra himself.

In September, Anne-Sophie Mutter gives further performances with Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in Germany, England, Romania and Switzerland. She performs the Violin Concerto by Antonin Dvořák – which she recorded for CD with the Berlin Philharmonic under Manfred Honeck in 2013.

During subsequent performances in the USA, Anne-Sophie Mutter appears with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Joann Falletta. In Buffalo she opens the new concert season with the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto, in Chicago with Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 5. Here, two further evenings with Tchaikovsky follow.

Discography
For her numerous recordings, 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.

On the occasion of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s 250th birthday in 2006, Anne-Sophie Mutter presented new recordings of Mozart’s complete major compositions for violin. In September 2008 her recording of Gubaidulina’s Violin Concerto In tempus praesens as well as the Bach Violin Concerti in A-Minor and E-Major was released. During the Mendelssohn anniversary year of 2009, Anne-Sophie Mutter paid very personal homage to the composer, uniting solo concerto repertoire and chamber music on CD and DVD: the Violin Sonata in F-Major written in 1838, the Piano Trio in D-Minor completed a year later, and the Violin Concerto in E-Minor of 1845. March 2010 saw the release of Anne-Sophie Mutter’s recording of the Brahms Violin Sonatas, performed with Lambert Orkis.

For her 35-year stage anniversary in 2011, Deutsche Grammophon released a comprehensive box set with all of the artist’s DG recordings, extensive documentary material and as-yet unpublished rarities. At the same time, an album of first recordings of pieces dedicated to the violinist by Wolfgang Rihm, Sebastian Currier and Krzysztof Penderecki appeared. In October 2013 Anne-Sophie Mutter presented her first recording of the Dvořák Violin Concerto with conductor Manfred Honeck and the Berlin Philharmonic. In May 2014 a double CD with recordings by Mutter and Orkis followed, commemorating the 25th anniversary of their collaboration: The Silver Album featuring the first recordings of Penderecki’s La Follia and Previn’s Violin Sonata No. 2.

The live recording Anne-Sophie Mutter – Live from Yellow Lounge of her club performance in Berlin in May 2015 was released on CD, vinyl, DVD and Blu-ray disc on August 28, 2015. This was the first live recording ever from a Yellow Lounge. On the podium at Neue Heimat Berlin, Anne-Sophie Mutter was joined by her long-standing piano accompanist Lambert Orkis, “Mutter’s Virtuosi” and the harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani. The programme covered three centuries of classical music – from Johann Sebastian Bach and Antonio Vivaldi to George Gershwin and John Williams – a combination chosen especially by Anne-Sophie Mutter for the club evenings.

Commemorating the 40-year stage anniversary of the charismatic artist, Deutsche Grammophon has assembled the double CDMutterissimo – The Art of Anne-Sophie Mutter, released worldwide on December 9, 2016. It assembles the highlights of her multi-faceted discography – personally selected by Anne-Sophie Mutter herself and focusing primarily on the past two decades of her impressive career.

Benefit Concerts
Anne-Sophie Mutter also takes a keen interest in alleviating medical and social problems of our times. She supports various causes through regular benefit concerts. In 2017, for example, she will perform a benefit for cancer research at the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center in Omaha.

Awards
In December 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 January 2015 Anne-Sophie Mutter was named an Honorary Fellow of Keble College at the University of Oxford. In October 2013 she became a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, after winning the medal of the Lutoslawski Society (Warsaw) in January. In 2012 the Atlantic Council bestowed the Distinguished Artistic Leadership Award upon her. In 2011 she received the Brahms Prize as well as 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 European St. Ulrich Award as well as the Cristobal Gabarron 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 is 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.

Current as of December 2016

Translation: Alexa Nieschlag

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