A native of Munich, Carolin Widmann studied with Igor Ozim in Cologne, Mich… Read Full Bio ↴A native of Munich, Carolin Widmann studied with Igor Ozim in Cologne, Michèle Auclair in Boston and David Takeno in London. She has won prizes at several important competitions, including the City of Munich’s Kulturförderpreis, the International Georg Kulenkampff Violin Competition in Cologne (1999) and the International Jeunesses Musicales Competition in Belgrade (2001). In 1998 Yehudi Menuhin presented her with the Prix du President at the Concours International Yehudi Menuhin in Boulogne-sur-Mer, France. She has also been awarded the Belmont Prize by the Forberg-Schneider Foundation in recognition of her dedication to New Music.

Carolin Widmann regularly appears as a guest artist at such widely known festivals as Lucerne, Salzburg, Schleswig-Holstein, Aspen, Banff, Davos and Bath, as well as performing at the Festival D'Automne in Paris, Musica Festival Strasbourg, the Berliner Festwochen, the Holland Festival, Las Vegas Music Festival, Jerusalem Chamber Music Festival and the Heidelberger Frühling, where in 2007 she was Artistic Director of the Atelier concert series.
She has performed as a soloist with Germany’s major radio symphony orchestras such as the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, the Bamberger Symphoniker, London Sinfonietta, the Dutch Radio Philharmonic, the Bangkok Symphony Orchestra, the Pittsburgh Symphony Chamber Ensemble and the Camerata Berne, collaborating with conductors Yehudi Menuhin, Peter Eötvös, Walter Weller, Jonathan Nott, Christoph Poppen, Peter Rundel, Stefan Asbury, Heinz Holliger and Michael Schønwandt.

In her recitals and concert appearances, Carolin Widmann strives to span a bridge between repertoire from the Viennese Classic and Romantic periods and more recent New Music. While much in demand in performances of music by contemporary composers such as in works written for her by Wolfgang Rihm, Matthias Pintscher, Jörg Widmann and Erkki-Sven Tüür and also working with György Kurtág, Pierre Boulez, George Benjamin and Salvatore Sciarrino, at the same time she feels a sense of obligation and affinity to the traditional violin repertory.

The 2008/2009 starts with her participation at the opening concert of the Salzburger Festspiele, whereto she returns to a second concert in August. The premiere of a new piece by Toshio Hosokawa will bring her to Lucerne, Vienna and Hamburg. In addition to this summer concerts she will play beside others during the season at the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall ((directed by George Benjamin), the Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig (with a premiere of a new violin concerto by Wolfgang Rihm, directed by Riccardo Chailly) in Leipzig and Lucerne, the Orchestra di Santa Cecilia (Heinz Holliger), the Orchestre National de Lille (Jean-Claude Casadesus) and the Orquesta Cuidad de Granada (Hannu Lintu).

In collaboration with Salome Kammer and the renowned French stage director Antoine Gindt, Carolin Widmann prepared in the past season a staged version of the Kafka Fragments by György Kurtág. This will be also repeated in this and future seasons, e.g. in Berlin (MaerzMusik), Athens and Paris. With the Camerata Berne she appeared first time in the twofold capacity as soloist and conductor, and will continue this also in future.

Carolin Widmann’s debut CD ‘Reflections I’ was named the Critics' Choice for 2006 by the German Record Critics’ Award. Her first CD at the ECM label with the Schumann Sonatas and the piano accompaniment of Denes Varjon comes out in September 2008. More productions are planned.

Carolin Widmann has been a professor for violin on the faculty of the Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy Musikhochschule in Leipzig since October of 2006.
Season 2008/ 2009