АNNE-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.
Born in 1963 in Rheinfelden, Germany, she started playing the piano when she was only five years old, but very soon opted for the violin. In 1976, at the age of 13, she gave a solo recital in Lucerne. Spotted by the legendary conductor Herbert von Karajan, she received an invitation to play with the Berlin Philharmonic. Her official debut was at the Salzburg Easter Festival in 1977 and with the English Chamber Orchestra under Daniel Barenboim. At the age of 15 she was already a soloist with the Berlin Philharmonic under Karajan and made her first recording with them of Mozart’s Violin Concertos. She was named “artist of the year”. Her astonishing musical career took off from here.
Anne-Sophie Mutter is equally committed to the performance of traditional composers as to the future of music. So far she has given world premieres of 32 works. Great artists of XX and XXI c. – Thomas Adès, Unsuk Chin, Henri Dutilleux, Sofia Gubaidulina, Witold Lutoslawski, Sir André Previn, Krzysztof Penderecki, Wolfgang Rihm, Jörg Widmann, John Williams have all composed for her.
In addition to being a brilliant performer, Ms. Mutter is a caring mentor to young talented people. In 1997 she founded the “Freundeskreis Anne-Sophie Mutter Stiftung e.V.” (Anne-Sophie Mutter Friendship Circle Foundation), 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“, featuring current and former Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation Fellows. Under her direction, the ensemble has toured Europe, the Americas and Asia, premiering new works and giving benefit concerts.
Anne-Sophie Mutter also takes a keen interest in alleviating medical and social problems of our times. In 2024, for example, she played for German Cancer Aid („Deutschen Krebshilfe”), which was celebrating its 50th anniversary; at Carnegie Hall for the aid organisation Direct Relief, which supports children and young people in Ukraine; and for the Society for the Promotion of Jewish Culture and Tradition in Munich and the Hanna and Paul Gräb Foundation, which cares for people with disabilities. In 2025, she will give a benefit concert for the Mendelssohn House in Leipzig.
The star violinist has a huge discography. Exclusive artist of Deutsche Grammophon, she also works with other well-known companies such as EMI and Sony Classical Records. Many of her recordings have earned her prestigious awards: four Grammy Awards, two Echo Classics and two Opus Classics, the German Recording Prize, the Grand Prix du Disque, the Record Academy Award, the International Recording Prize, etc.
In February 2025, Anne-Sophie Mutter was honoured with the Grand Staufer Medal in Gold ( “Großen Staufermedaille in Gold” ) by Baden-Württemberg’s Minister President Winfried Kretschmann. She has been awarded numerous prizes, the most recent being: the 2023 Ruhr Piano Festival Prize, and the Royal Philharmonic Society awarded her its Gold Medal; Krzysztof Penderecki Music Academy in Kraków bestowed an honorary doctorate on her in 2022); the “Praemium Imperiale” in the music category and the “Polar Music Prize” – known as the “Nobel Prize for Music” (2019). 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.
She has also received: the Ernst von Siemens Music Prize, the first woman to receive it; the Leonie Sonning, Herbert von Karajan, Brahms, Mendelssohn, Erich Fromm, Shostakovich Prizes, St. Ulrich Award, etc. She is named an honorary member of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Royal Academy of Music, and the Technical-Scientific University of Norway in Trondheim.
Mutter 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.
2025 – the year before her 50th anniversary on stage in Lucerne – once again reflects the violinist’s musical versatility and her unrivalled standing in the world of classical music with performances in Europe and North America. With two world premieres by Aftab Darvishi (Likoo for solo Violin on April, 3rd in Carnegie Hall) and Max Richter (Homage to Johann Strauss for violin and orchestra on October 25th at the Musikverein, Vienna), she will once again present her audience with new repertoire.
In the beginning of April, Mutter will make a guest appearance in the USA, where she and pianist Lambert Orkis will ring in the 37th year of their musical collaboration. After Sofia, there will be another performance of the Violin Concerto “To the Memory of an Angel” by Alban Berg in Berlin with the Staatskapelle Berlin conducted by Simon Young. She will then return to the USA, where she will perform with pianist Yefim Bronfman and cellist Pablo Ferrández the piano trios, namely Beethoven’s Archduke Trio, Op. 97 in B flat major and Tchaikovsky’s masterpiece Trio in A minor, Op. 50. That same repertoire will be performed in Europe as well- in May with the pianist Lauma Skride and the cellist Lionell Martin, a scholarship holder of her foundation.
She will also perform the Brahms’ Double Concerto with Ferrández – also a scholarship holder of the Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation – in June: in Monaco with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo under the direction of Kazuki Yamada. An extensive European tour begins in July with John Williams’ Violin Concerto No. 2 and selected film themes. The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra will accompany Mutter at numerous open-air concerts as well as in concert halls; the first half of the tour will be conducted by the young South American conductor Lina González-Granado, followed by Vasily Petrenko.
Thomas Adès’ Air – Homage to Sibelius, which the composer dedicated to the violinist and which will be heard for the first time in Romania and France, and Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 1 in B flat major K207 will be performed by Mutter in September: Cristian Macelaru will conduct the Orchestre National de France in Bucharest and Paris.
Anne-Sophie Mutter concludes her concert year 2025 in Copenhagen and Aarhus with Beethoven’s Violin Concerto – with Fabio Luisi conducting the Danish National Symphony Orchestra.