Carolin Widmann
Violin
A wonderfully 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 period instrument performances, including play/direction from the violin.
Widmann was awarded the Bayerischer Staatspreis for music in 2017, honouring her individuality and exceptional musicianship. Widmann was also the recipient of an International Classical Music Award (Concerto category) for her critically acclaimed recording of both Mendelssohn’s and Schumann’s Violin Concertos with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, released in August 2016 by ECM and which Widmann herself conducted from the violin.
Named ‘Musician of the Year’ at the International Classical Music Awards 2013, Ms Widmann has played with Berliner Philharmoniker, Orchestre de Paris, Orchestre National de France, Czech Philharmonic, Swedish Radio Symphony, Vienna Radio Symphony, London Philharmonic, BBC Symphony, and Bayerische Rundfunk with distinguished conductors such as Sir Simon Rattle, Riccardo Chailly, Edward Gardner, Vladimir Jurowski, Sakari Oramo, Daniel Harding, François-Xavier Roth, Santtu-Matias Rouvali and Jukka-Pekka Saraste. She also appears at such widely known festivals as Musikfest Berlin, Salzburger Festspiele, Lucerne Festival, Edinburgh International Festival, Prague Spring International Festival, Pau Casals Festival, and Festival d’Automne in Paris.
Carolin debuted with an extensive number of orchestras over the 2024/25 season, including with the Danish National Symphony, Seoul Philharmonic, Helsinki Philharmonic, Royal Scottish National Orchestra and the Philadelphia Orchestra. Further highlights included the Robert Gerhard concerto with Orquestra Sinfònica de Barcelona, a Kurt Weill inspired play-direct programme with the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris featuring Ute Lemper, a tribute to Kaaja Saariaho with SWR Symphonieorchester, and the UK premiere of Jörg Widmann’s Violin Concerto No. 2, a piece written for and dedicated to her, with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. She is also the Fondazione Arturo Toscanini’s artist-in-residence for the 24/25 season.
Chamber music projects for the season include two recitals at the Pierre Boulez Saal; a quartet programme with Nils Mönkemeyer, Julian Steckel, and William Youn, as well as a solo project for violin and electronics; and a return to the Alte Oper Frankfurt.
Carolin Widmann is playing a G.B. Guadagnini violin from 1782 which is on loan from a Charitable Trust.