BIOGRAPHY
OVERVIEW
2026/2027
A biographical overview.
Anne-Sophie Mutter is a musical phenomenon: for 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. 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 34 works – Thomas Adès, Unsuk Chin, Sebastian Currier, Aftab Darvishi, Henri Dutilleux, Sofia Gubaidulina, Witold Lutoslawski, Norbert Moret, Krzysztof Penderecki, Sir André Previn, Wolfgang Rihm, Jörg Widmann and John Williams have all composed for Anne-Sophie Mutter. Anne-Sophie Mutter dedicates herself to supporting tomorrow’s musical elite and numerous benefit projects. Since January 2022 she joins the foundation board of the Lucerne Festival.
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.
Concerts 2025/2026
In the season 2026/2027 – the season of her 50th anniversary on stage in Lucerne and Salzburg – she once again reflects her musical versatility and her unrivalled standing in the world of classical music with performances in Europe, Far East and North America.
In collaboration with Alpha Classics, she is releasing a series of works written for her under the name ASM Forte Forward, which she has not yet recorded. The first album in the series, East Meets West, was released on 27 March 2026 and features works by Darvishi, Chin, Adès and Widmann, the second album „American Tunes #1“ is released on August 21st 2026 with works by Previn and Currier.Deutsche Grammophon is honouring her anniversary with a comprehensive catalogue initiative spanning 40 years of collaboration.
The 2026/2027 seasons starts with an anniversary residency at the Lucerne Festival. The anniversary celebrations will begin with an artist talk in Meggen, the place where she made her debut in 1976. This will be followed by two concerts: Anne-Sophie Mutter will conduct the Lucerne Festival Orchestra from her violin, performing the Swiss premiere of ‘Likoo’ by Aftab Darvishi, André Previn’s Violin Concerto No. 2 with two Cembalo interludes and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Violin Concertos No. 1 and No. 5. Krzysztof Penderecki’s Second Violin Concerto ‘Metamorphosen’, another central work in her oeuvre, is also on the programme. Together with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and under the baton of Manfred Honeck, this multi-layered work, written especially for her by the composer, will be performed as the third part of her stage anniversary in Lucerne.
In October 2026, Anne-Sophie Mutter dedicates one of her two Zurich concerts with the Philharmonia Zürich and Lina González-Granados to Amiamusica, an association supporting premature and seriously ill newborns and their families. The programme features Ludwig van Beethoven’s Violin Concerto.
The anniversary season also includes performances in Asia: in November, she embarks on an extensive tour of China with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under Vasily Petrenko, performing the violin concertos of Beethoven and Mendelssohn.
Concerts in Beijing and Tokyo follow in January 2027, where she will play the local premieres of John Williams’ Violin Concerto No. 2 alongside a selection of the composer’s celebrated film themes.
During the 2026/2027 season, Anne-Sophie Mutter is the featured Focus Artist at the Vienna Musikverein. As part of this residency, she appears in a chamber music programme with Beatrice Rana, Kian Soltani and Roman Patkoló, performing works by André Previn, Sebastian Currier, Clara Schumann and Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy. She also performs Krzysztof Penderecki’s violin concerto „Metamorphosen“, written especially for her, with the Vienna Philharmonic under Claudio Vandelli, and joins the Chamber Orchestra Vienna-Berlin in a programme featuring works by Aftab Darvishi, André Previn and Wolfgang A. Mozart, directing the ensemble from the violin.
This programme also tours Europe in May 2027 and includes Anne-Sophie Mutter’s anniversary concert in Salzburg. She made her Salzburg debut under Herbert von Karajan at the Whitsun Festival in 1977.
In February 2027, Anne-Sophie Mutter joins Lahav Shani on his inaugural tour with the Munich Philharmonic, performing Brahms’ Violin Concerto in cities across Europe and North America.
In April 2027, she gives the world premiere of the Triple Concerto by the Iranian composer Golfam Khayam. Together with violist Muriel Razavi, a scholarship recipient of the Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation, and cellist Kian Soltani, a former scholarship recipient, she premieres this commissioned work with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra under Fabio Luisi.
In May 2027, Anne-Sophie Mutter brings the Triple Concerto to Europe for its European premiere. Joined once again by Muriel Razavi, Kian Soltani, Fabio Luisi and the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, she performs the work in Copenhagen and on tour in several other European cities.
Next concert
Marking 50 years on stage: In conversation: Anne-Sophie Mutter and Sebastian Nordmann
Roman Patkoló, double bass - Oleksandra Fedova, piano
Latest CD release
Biography as PDF download

Biography (PDF)
Copyright: Andreas Ortner
Discography
Her first recording was released in 1978: Mozart’s Violin Concerti Nos. 3 and 5 with Herbert von Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic. Since then she has made numerous recordings, for which 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.
The following contains an overview of the past 15 years: 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 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 assembled the double CD Mutterissimo – The Art of Anne-Sophie Mutter, released in 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.
In November 2017, Anne-Sophie Mutter and Daniil Trifonov released their first joint album, focusing on one of the most famous works in all the classical repertoire. Together with Hwayoon Lee, Maximilian Hornung and Roman Patkoló, they recorded Schubert’s Piano Quintet in A-major, generally known as the “Trout Quintet”. The programme also included Schubert’s Notturno, a masterful late work for violin, cello and piano, as well as his songs Ständchen and Ave Maria, arranged for violin and piano.
Krzysztof Penderecki’s 85th birthday was honoured by Deutsche Grammophon in 2018 with a double album including all the works he has dedicated to Anne-Sophie Mutter, including her first recording of the Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 2: a sensitive and touching homage by the violinist to her musical friend and companion.
In 2018, Deutsche Grammophon also commemorated the 40-year anniversary of Anne-Sophie Mutter’s first recording by re-releasing her earliest concerto recordings in a deluxe hardcover edition entitled The Early Years – featuring violin concerti by Mozart (Nos. 3 and 5), Beethoven, Bruch and Mendelssohn. Thanks to the new, high-resolution audio format 2.2 24bit/192kHz, the listener has the impression of being in the violinist’s immediate vicinity.
In August 2019, Across the Stars, her album with some of the most brilliant works by the composer and multiple Oscar-winner John Williams, was released, for which Williams adapted most of the recorded works especially for her.
Anne-Sophie Mutter, Yo-Yo Ma and Daniel Barenboim recorded Beethoven’s Triple Concerto together, celebrating the composer’s 250th anniversary. The album also commemorates the 20-year anniversary of the founding of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra. It was released on May 8, 2020, 40 years after the legendary recording of the Triple Concerto by Anne-Sophie Mutter and Yo-Yo Ma under Herbert von Karajan’s baton.
In August 2020 it was followed by John Williams in Vienna: the legendary American film composer conducted the Vienna Philharmonic for the first time in January 2020; the recording documents this historical performance of film history milestones. For the Musikverein audience, Anne-Sophie Mutter performed a selection of the virtuoso adaptations which Williams created especially for her, including Hedwig’s Theme from Harry Potter, Devil’s Dance from The Witches of Eastwick and the theme from Sabrina. In February 2021 the so-called “live edition” of this concert appeared, including six bonus tracks and John Williams’ remarks from the podium, introducing each work on the Viennese programme.
“Composed especially for Anne-Sophie Mutter” is the inscription John Williams added to his Violin Concerto No. 2, which the two of them premiered together on July 24, 2021 with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. In September 2021 the new work was recorded with the same cast as its world premiere, complemented by several new film themes. This CD was released in June 2022.
November 2022 saw the release of a recording of the Double Concerto by Johannes Brahms with the cellist Pablo Ferrández and the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra under Manfred Honeck, as well as Clara Schumann’s Piano Trio with the pianist Lambert Orkis, her long-time musical partner and friend.
The first album of her Foundation’s ensemble, “Mutter’s Virtuosi”, was released in November 2023. As part of a European tour, Anne-Sophie Mutter and her Virtuosi ensemble gave an impressive performance at Vienna’s Musikverein, forming the basis of this versatile and thoughtful album of music by Antonio Vivaldi, Johann Sebastian Bach, Joseph Bologne, André Previn and John Williams.
In March 2026, the album East Meets West was released, the first in the ASM Forte Forward series in collaboration with the Alpha Classics label. It features compositions by Aftab Darvishi, Unsuk Chin, Jörg Widmann and Thomas Adès. On August 21st, the second album „American Tunes #1“ will be released, featuring works by Previn and Currier. Further albums will be released in 2027 and 2028, featuring exclusively contemporary works written for her.
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.
On 2 October 2026, she will give a charity concert for amiamusica, a voluntary organisation dedicated to providing music and music therapy for premature and seriously ill newborns and their parents; and in January 2027, she will perform for the Red Cross in Japan.
Awards
In September 2025, Anne-Sophie Mutter received the Enescu Festival Award for Excellence in Bucharest and the Wolfgang Schüssel Prize in Salzburg. In February 2025, Anne-Sophie Mutter was honoured with the Grand Staufer Medal in Gold by Baden-Württemberg’s Minister President Winfried Kretschmann.
In 2023, the violinist received the Ruhr Piano Festival Prize, and the Royal Philharmonic Society awarded her its Gold Medal. The Krzysztof Penderecki Music Academy in Cracow bestowed an honorary doctorate on her in 2022.
In 2019, Anne-Sophie Mutter was honoured to receive the Praemium Imperiale in the music category; she received the 2019 Polar Music Prize. 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.
In 2018 the violinist was named an honorary member of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia.
In 2017 Romania awarded the Order of Cultural Merit in the rank of a Grand Officer to Anne-Sophie Mutter and France honoured her by presenting her with the insignia of a Commander of the French Order of the Arts and Literature.
In 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 2015, Anne-Sophie Mutter was named an Honorary Fellow of Keble College at the University of Oxford.
In 2013 she became a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, after winning the medal of the Lutosławski 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 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.
Last updated on July 7th, 2026


