2023

In the year she turned 60, Anne-Sophie Mutter’s concerts reflected once again the violinist’s musical versatility and her peerless rank in the world of classical music. Numerous compositions dedicated to her filled her 2023 concert calendar; in many countries, these works have been programmed for the first time.

Concerts

At the turn of the new year, Anne-Sophie Mutter and “Mutter’s Virtuosi” have toured Iceland, the USA and Canada. The programmes included the Concerto in A-major Op. 5 No. 2 by Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint Georges, Unsuk Chin’s Gran Cadenza (commissioned by Mutter), Vivaldi’s Concerto for Four Violins in B-minor Op. 3 No. 10 and his Four Seasons.

Two further tours in June and August/September took Anne-Sophie Mutter and her “Virtuosi” through Europe. The repertoire included three works by J. S. Bach: his Violin Concerto No. 1 in A-minor, the Double Concerto for Two Violins and the Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G-major. These were complemented by the Nonet by André Previn, a work dedicated to the violinist, as well as the Concerto for 3 Violins in F major, RV 551 by Antonio Vivaldi and the Concerto in A-major Op. 5 No. 2 by Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint Georges. Fourteen string players and Knut Johannessen at the harpsichord performed these three tours under the leadership of Anne-Sophie Mutter.

In the USA, she performed Thomas Adès’ Air – Homage to Sibelius, a work she co-commissioned and premiered at the Lucerne Festival in 2022 together with the composer. Her musical partners were the Boston Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Andris Nelsons.

A European chamber music tour also took place: Johannes Brahms’ Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 3 in D-minor Op. 108, Clara Schumann’s Three Romances Op. 22 for Violin and Piano, Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Ghost Trio” and Sebastian Currier’s Ghost Trio (dedicated to the violinist) have been performed by Mutter with Lambert Orkis and the cellist Maximilian Hornung. Ghost Trio have been performed in Europe for the first time on these occasions.

Another musical focus in 2023 has been the oeuvre of John Williams: Mutter played his Violin Concerto No. 2, dedicated to her, as well as a selection of the virtuoso film music adaptations Williams created especially for her in Australia, Europe, New Zealand and the USA – the American performances have been conducted by the composer himself.

In honour of the 90th birthday of Krzysztof Penderecki, who passed away in 2020, Mutter performed his Violin Concerto No. 2 “Metamorphosen”. She played this work, which is also dedicated to her, in Poland together with the Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra under Andrey Boreyko.

Anne-Sophie Mutter rounded off the musical celebrations for her 60th-birthday year with a very special concert with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra on 12 December. From Heinz Hall, she has been joined by legendary composer and conductor John Williams as well longtime friend Yefim Bronfman; her protégé, cellist Pablo Ferrández; and sought-after conductor Susanna Mälkki. The first half saw Mutter, Ferrández and Bronfman come together for Beethoven's lyrical Triple Concerto – with Mälkki on the podium – while the second half with Mutter and Williams reunited for an unmissable selection of music by the film music legend.

Diskography

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.

Benefit Concerts

Mutter played four benefit concerts in 2023: In March a benefit gala commemorating the centenary of the Cologne Chamber Orchestra, supporting the ensemble’s continued existence and its outstanding orchestral culture. In June she played for the Municipal School of Music “Giuseppe Sarti” of Faenza, in October for the Hilfsverein Nymphenburg e.V and in December in favor of the foundation “Leipzig hilft Kindern”.

Awards

In June 2023, Anne-Sophie Mutter received the Ruhr Piano Festival Prize, and the Royal Philharmonic Society awarded her its Gold Medal.

At the Virtuosi concert in Istanbul, she was honoured with the “Lifetime Achievement Award of the Istanbul Music Festival”. In October, Mutter’s successful collaboration with Williams was acknowledged when she received an Opus Classic Award as “Instrumentalist of the Year” for her album Williams: Violin Concerto No. 2 & Selected Film Themes.

<p>This year, Professor Franz Xaver Ohnesorg opened the series of honours for Anne-Sophie Mutter: in recognition of her sustained championing of young musicians and new works, he bestowed the Prize of the 2023 Ruhr Piano Festival upon her. The prize includes a scholarship: Mutter and Lambert Orkis (right) chose the 32-year-old Madalina-Claudia Danila for this award, a Romanian pianist living in the USA.<br />© KFR/Peter Wieler</p>
This year, Professor Franz Xaver Ohnesorg opened the series of honours for Anne-Sophie Mutter: in recognition of her sustained championing of young musicians and new works, he bestowed the Prize of the 2023 Ruhr Piano Festival upon her. The prize includes a scholarship: Mutter and Lambert Orkis (right) chose the 32-year-old Madalina-Claudia Danila for this award, a Romanian pianist living in the USA.
© KFR/Peter Wieler
<p>The Royal Philharmonic Society awarded Anne-Sophie Mutter its Gold Medal – previous recipients included Joachim, Kreisler, Ysaÿe and Menuhin before her. This is one of the highest honours in the field of classical music. “Your interpretation of so many masterpieces is definitive,” said John Gilhooly (right in the photograph; Toks Dada on the left), the chairman of the British institution. “Your own dedication to the composers of our time has been remarkable. (…) You are an inspiration to so many aspiring violinists. Your care and devotion to individually helping them overcome hurdles with the Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation is especially treasured. Let us also commend how you use your music-making to draw minds to humanitarian matters, not least through your concerts this last year in support of the people of Ukraine.”<br />© James Murphy</p>
<br />
The Royal Philharmonic Society awarded Anne-Sophie Mutter its Gold Medal – previous recipients included Joachim, Kreisler, Ysaÿe and Menuhin before her. This is one of the highest honours in the field of classical music. “Your interpretation of so many masterpieces is definitive,” said John Gilhooly (right in the photograph; Toks Dada on the left), the chairman of the British institution. “Your own dedication to the composers of our time has been remarkable. (…) You are an inspiration to so many aspiring violinists. Your care and devotion to individually helping them overcome hurdles with the Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation is especially treasured. Let us also commend how you use your music-making to draw minds to humanitarian matters, not least through your concerts this last year in support of the people of Ukraine.”
© James Murphy
<p>Víkingur Ólafsson and Anne-Sophie Mutter at the Opus Klassik 2023 on 8 October in Berlin. <br />© Stefan Hoederath/Deutsche Grammophon</p>
Víkingur Ólafsson and Anne-Sophie Mutter at the Opus Klassik 2023 on 8 October in Berlin.
© Stefan Hoederath/Deutsche Grammophon

Publications in year 2023

  • Anne-Sophie Mutter & Mutter‘s Virtuosi
    Anne-Sophie Mutter & Mutter‘s Virtuosi
    Bach, Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, Previn, Vivaldi, Williams

    Anne-Sophie Mutter, Mutter‘s Virtuosi, Knut Johannessen
  • The Solo Concertos
    The Solo Concertos
    Beethoven, Brahms, Bruch, Mendelssohn, Mozart, Tchaikovsky

    Herbert von Karajan, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Berliner Philharmoniker, Wiener Philharmoniker

2022

At the Lucerne Festival, she has given the world premiere of the Air – Homage to Sibelius by Thomas Adès, which she co-commissioned. Lucerne also has seen the performance of the Violin Concerto No. 2 by Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges. She has performed the violin concerto Anne-Sophie, which André Previn dedicated to her, in several German cities – including at the Usedom Music Festival. Here, her appearance at the former turbine hall of the Peenemünde Power Station with the New York Philharmonic and Jaap van Zweden set an impressive signal for international understanding, far beyond German-American relations. In 2022 Anne-Sophie Mutter performed the Brahms Double Concerto together with cellist Pablo Ferrández – both with the Czech Philharmonic and Manfred Honeck as well as the London Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Ed Gardner. The violinist performed Beethoven’s Violin Concerto in the USA, both with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and Sir Andrew Davis and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Riccardo Muti, and in Germany with the Pittsburgh Orchestra under Manfred Honeck. Another musical focus in 2022 has been on John Williams’ oeuvre: in Vienna and the USA, Mutter performed his Violin Concerto No. 2, of which she is the dedicatee, and a selection of the virtuoso adaptations of film scores Williams created especially for her. These performances have been conducted by the composer. Chamber music programmes also took place: violin sonatas and piano trios by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart with Lambert Orkis and the cellists Maximilian Hornung and Lionel Martin. Further recitals with her long-standing piano partner featured works by Beethoven, Franck and Mozart. During a chamber music tour with active and former fellows of her foundation, she performed Beethoven’s String Quartet in G-major Op. 18 No 2, Haydn’s String Quartet in E-flat-major Op. 20 No. 1 and Jörg Widmann’s Studie über Beethoven, which she gave the world premiere of in Tokyo on February 22, 2020.

Diskography

“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 has been released in June 2022.

November 4 followed the recording of Brahms‘ Double Concerto with cellist Pablo Ferrández, the Czech Philharmonic and conductor Manfred Honeck as well as Clara Schumann’s Piano Trio with pianist, long term collaborator and friend Lambert Orkis.

Benefit Concerts

Given Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, which is in violation of international law, Anne-Sophie Mutter has been playing four benefit concerts for its victims in March and April 2022. “Everyone can and must help now,” says the artist. “Words alone are not enough. This is a humanitarian catastrophe – we must stand with the people in Ukraine and with the refugees as well.”

Awards

It has been the second honorary doctorate for Anne-Sophie Mutter: after Trondheim’s Technical University awarded her an honorary degree in 2010, the Krzysztof Penderecki Music Academy in Cracow distinguished her with a Doctor honoris causa on March 30, 2022, the “highest honour our university has to bestow”, as the Rector of the Krzysztof Penderecki Music Academy in Cracow, Professor Dr. hab. Wojciech Widlak, pointed out in his speech.

<p>The rector of the Krzysztof Penderecki Music Academy Cracow, Prof. Dr. hab. Wojciech Widłak and Anne-Sophie Mutter on 30 March 2022 in Cracow. Photo: Piotr Markowski</p>
The rector of the Krzysztof Penderecki Music Academy Cracow, Prof. Dr. hab. Wojciech Widłak and Anne-Sophie Mutter on 30 March 2022 in Cracow. Photo: Piotr Markowski

Publications in year 2022

  • Brahms Double Concerto & Clara Schumann Piano Trio
    Brahms Double Concerto & Clara Schumann Piano Trio
    Brahms, Schumann

    Anne-Sophie Mutter, Pablo Ferrández, Lambert Orkis, Manfred Honeck, Czech Philharmonic
  • Violin Concerto No. 2 & Selected Film Themes
    Violin Concerto No. 2 & Selected Film Themes
    Williams

    John Williams, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Boston Symphony Orchestra

2021

In the second year of the Covid-19 pandemic, the authorities continued to curtail concert life severely in order to contain the virus. Anne-Sophie Mutter only returned to the concert stage in June 2021. Some highlights:

On July 24, 2021 she gave the world premiere of the Concerto for Violin and Orchestra No. 2, dedicated to her by John Williams, in Tanglewood. In August she gave her first concert with Martha Argerich – during the Argerich Festival in Hamburg the two musicians performed César Franck’s Sonata for Violin and Piano in A-major, among other works.

With 19 performances in Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Luxembourg and Switzerland, Mutter’s Virtuosi embarked upon their longest and most extensive concert tour so far in the autumn of 2021. The tour began in Regensburg on October 21, 2021: Antonio Vivaldi’s Concerto for Four Violins in B-minor Op. 3 No. 10 RV 580 opened the programmes, followed by Unsuk Chin’s Gran Cadenza. The exclusive ensemble thereby added a new work to the canon, commissioned by Anne-Sophie Mutter. She played the world premiere in Regensburg together with Ye-Eun Choi. For the subsequent performances of the work, her partners alternated among the eight violinists of the ensemble. This rotation principle was also applied to the first work of the evening, and to Mozart’s String Quintet in E-flat-major, K. 614, which was performed after Gran Cadenza. The second half of the concerts featured Vivaldi’s Four Seasons – a riveting finale for a programme that challenged musicians and listeners alike.

The soloist ensemble led by Anne-Sophie Mutter included a total of 16 strings this year, plus the Norwegian harpsichordist Knut Johannessen. In 2011 Mutter undertook her first tour with her Virtuosi, followed by an Asian tour in 2013, a North American tour in 2014, a tour of European summer festivals in 2015, a German, French and Spanish tour in 2016 and a tour of South America in 2019.

Discography

In February 2021 the “live edition” of John Williams in Vienna was released, featuring six bonus tracks and John Williams’ live comments before each of the pieces in the Viennese programme.

Benefit Concerts

Anne-Sophie Mutter takes a keen interest in alleviating medical and social problems of our times. She supports various causes through regular benefit concerts. In 2021 she performed on behalf of the festival Vevey Spring Classic and the Beethoven Haus Bonn.

Publications in year 2021

  • John Williams Live in Vienna (2CD Live Edition)
    John Williams Live in Vienna (2CD Live Edition)
    Williams

    John Williams, Wiener Philharmoniker, Anne-Sophie Mutter

2020

On January 18 and 19, Europe witnessed the Across the Stars programme with John Williams on the conductor’s podium live for the first time: in Vienna, the recipient of several Oscars conducted a selection of his most outstanding works. The concert with the Vienna Philharmonic featured his music for Star Wars, Schindler’s List, Memoirs of a Geisha, Harry Potter, Dracula as well as Munich. As part of the Across the Stars project, Williams rearranged most of the compositions specifically for Anne-Sophie Mutter.

2020 was to see worldwide celebrations of Beethoven’s 250th birthday – Anne-Sophie Mutter had planned to place those of the composer’s violin works in the limelight which have made him immortal. She had conceived four programmes: apart from the Beethoven Violin Concerto, which she combined with the Violin Romances, the Triple Concerto and the Violin Romance No. 3 in F-major Op. 50 was to form a second focus. A third Beethoven programme was to consist of the Violin Sonatas No. 4 in A-minor Op. 23, No. 5 in F-major Op. 24 (“Spring Sonata”) and No. 9 in A-major Op. 47 (“Kreutzer Sonata”). The fourth anniversary programme included the String Trio in C-minor Op. 9 and the String Quartet in E-flat-major Op. 75 (“Harp Quartet”) – this latter concert was also to build a bridge from the avant-garde composer of the 1790s to our present times, by featuring the new string quartet Studie über Beethoven by Jörg Widmann, commissioned by Anne-Sophie Mutter and dedicated to her. This new work was given its world premiere in Tokyo on February 22, 2020.

Shortly after this world premiere, the Covid-19 pandemic put a stop to any kind of concert life – with the exception of a few performance opportunities in the late summer.

In November and December, Anne-Sophie Mutter undertook a series of musical performances as part of church services in Germany, joined by former and current fellows of her foundation. The musicians thereby also called attention to the catastrophic economic situation many musicians find themselves in, soliciting donations for the Emergency Fund of the German Orchestra Foundation. Apart from 12 appearances at church services, they also performed at senior citizens’ homes.

Discography

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.

Benefit Concerts

In 2020 three benefit concerts were scheduled, all of which had to be cancelled: one for the foundation “Leipzig hilft Kindern”, one for the London-based organization “Crisis” which is dedicated to helping homeless persons, and one for the Beethoven-Haus in Bonn.

Publications in year 2020

  • John Williams in Vienna
    John Williams in Vienna
    Williams

    John Williams, Wiener Philharmoniker, Anne-Sophie Mutter
  • Beethoven: Triple Concerto  & Symphony no. 7
    Beethoven: Triple Concerto & Symphony no. 7
    Beethoven

    Daniel Barenboim, Yo-Yo Ma, Anne-Sophie Mutter, West-Eastern Divan Orchestra

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