JULIAN RACHLIN is one of the most renowned artistic personalities of our time. Critics have described him as a a virtuoso with heart and a champion’s bearing (Los Angeles Times). In his over thirty-year career, Mr. Rachlin’s multifaceted interests have taken him across the globe as a conductor, soloist, recording artist, chamber musician, teacher, and artistic director. As a violinist, Rachlin has shared the stage with virtually every major orchestra and conductor.
Rachlin is Chief Conductor of the Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra and music director of the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra. Since 2021, he has been artistic director of the Herbstgold Festival at the Esterhazy Palace in Eisenstadt, Austria.
He is known for his precise rehearsal methods and superb musicianship. Recent highlights as soloist or as conductor include appearances with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Klaus Mäkelä, the Helsinki Philharmonic, the Sofia Philharmonic, the Warsaw Philharmonic and the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, the Philharmonica della Scala Orchestra under Andres Orozco-Estrada, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the St Petersburg, Moscow, Helsinki and Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestras, the China Philharmonic Orchestra, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the RAI Turin Symphony Orchestra and the Grand Teton and Verbier Festival Orchestras. He has been invited as Principal Guest Conductor of the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra and Principal Artist Partner of the Royal Northern Sinfonia.
Rachlin is an active interpreter of contemporary music. He works closely with Krzysztof Penderecki, Giya Kancheli, Vangelis and Lera Auerbach. In 2000, he joined Mstislav Rostropovich in the premiere of Penderecki’s Sextet and Penderecki later wrote and dedicated the Concerto Doppio for Violin, Viola, and Orchestra which he premiered at the Musikverein Vienna (2012) to him as well as the Ciaccona for Violin and Viola. He has also been involved in cross-genre projects and films, collaborating with artists for digital installations and with celebrities such as John Malkovich, Sir Roger Moore and Gerard Depardieu. His long-time musical partners include Martha Argerich, Evgeny Kissin, Denis Matsuev, Janine Jansen, Vilde Frang and Mischa Maisky.
His untiring work and dedication to his Julian Rachlin and Friends Festival in Dubrovnik, Croatia, that ran for over a decade, has been recognized worldwide. He founded a foundation of the same name that supports the development of outstanding young musicians. Since 1999, he has been a faculty member and professor at the University of Music and Performing Arts of Vienna.
Rachlin has won numerous awards, including the Accademia Musicale Chigiana Siena Award, the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leader Award, and the UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Award for the United Nations Children’s Fund. In 2013, he played under the baton of Zubin Mehta with the Bavarian State Orchestra at the historic first concert of a Western orchestra for the region, “Peace for Kashmir” at the Shalimar Gardens in Srinagar, Kashmir, the first performance by a Western orchestra in that region.
Born in Lithuania, Rachlin emigrated to Vienna with his family at the age of three, where he studied violin with the renowned Boris Kuschnir at the “Musik und Kunst Privatuniversität der Stadt Wien”, at the same time receiving private lessons from Pinchas Zukermann in New York. After winning the Young Musician of the Year award at the Eurovision Song Contest in Amsterdam in 1988, he was the youngest soloist ever to play with the Vienna Philharmonic, making his debut under the baton of Riccardo Muti. As a conductor he trained with Mariss Jansons, Sophie Rachlin and Daniele Gatti.
Mr. Rachlin plays the 1704 “ex Liebig” Stradivari and a 1785 Lorenzo Storioni viola, on loan to him courtesy of the Dkfm. Angelika Prokopp Privatstiftung. His strings are kindly sponsored by Thomastik-Infeld. Mr. Rachlin’s critically acclaimed recordings can be heard on Deutsche Grammophon, Sony Classical, and Warner Class.
In 2024/2025 Julian Rachlin is touring throughout Europe.