American-Iranian Violist Muriel Razavi (*1992 in Freiburg) is in great demand as a soloist, chamber musician and orchestral musician in the baroque as well as in the contemporary music field. Beginning in the winter semester 2023/2024 she will start teaching as Professor for Viola at the University Mozarteum Salzburg and at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik Trossingen.
She is currently enrolled in a doctoral program (Dr.sc.mus) at the Hamburg University of Music and Theatre under the artistic supervision of Daniel Barenboim, where she is conducting research on Re-Orientalism in Music. In the last years Muriel has been working on special concert designs and formats with music by Iranian composers of contemporary classical music from the “Iranian Female Composers Association” and commissioned the Viola Concerto “her path through clay and silk” composed by Golfam Khayam. In 2022 she received the “award for an outstanding program with special societal relevance” for her Viola Solo performance “ancient eve is once again offering apples” at the Dbü-Competition. In the season 22/23 she performed her program at the Ultraschallfestival Berlin and the Heidelberger Frühling Music Festival.
Ms. Razavi is a first prize winner of the international “Washington String Competition” (Washington D.C., 2018) and award winner of the international competitions “Michael Spisak” (Katowice, 2017) and “Città di Cremona” at the 43. international Viola Conference (Cremona, 2016). She has played at numerous festivals, including the “Seiji Ozawa International Academy Switzerland”, the Schleswig-Holstein Festival, the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival, the Rheingau Music Festival, the Stavelot Festival in Belgium, the Yeosu Festival in South Korea and the Musicales de Frutillar in Chile, where she also taught a masterclass.
Regular international concert tours, i.a. as Principal - Viola, with the Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, the MDR Symphony Orchestra and the West Eastern Divan Orchestra, conducted by Daniel Barenboim as well substitutional work at Germany’s most notable symphony orchestras supplement her widely diversified musical activities. Her chamber music partners include Baiba Skride, Kian Soltani, Tobias Feldmann, Harriet Krijgh and Frank Braley. She is a member of the Ensemble “Mutter´s Virtuosi” under the artistic leadership of Violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter.
She studied with renowned musicians such as Prof. Tabea Zimmermann, Prof. Nils Mönkemeyer and Prof. Tatjana Masurenko. In 2019 she completed her Master’s Degree with honors under Professor Wilfried Strehle at the Universität der Künste in Berlin.
As a baroque Violist she deepened her knowledge of historical performance practice with the “Balthasar Neumann Ensemble” under the direction of Thomas Hengelbrock, the “Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment“ in London, the “Il pomo d’oro” Ensemble and the “Le Concert Olympique” Orchestra in Belgium.
Since 2021 has taken on an honorary mentorship in the Mentoring Arts Program at the University for Music and Theater in Leipzig, preparing students for their careers in the field of music.
Ms. Razavi performs on a French viola built for her by the luthier Patrick Robin and an Alemannic baroque viola from Dorothea van der Woerd.
Besides her musical studies she has also completed a Bachelor’s Degree in “The History and Culture of the Middle East – Iranian Studies“at the Freie Universität Berlin as well as a Master’s Degree in “Religion and Culture“ at the Humboldt University in Berlin.
February 2024