Mirijam Contzen, violin
Violinist Mirijam Contzen has performed on stages throughout the world for many years. Her serious approach, absolute virtuosity and delight in discovering new repertoire has established her with audiences and critics alike as one of the most versatile and interesting artists of her generation.
The German-Japanese artist was discovered by legendary violinist Tibor Varga at the age of seven when she made her orchestral debut with a Mozart violin concerto. She then began studying with him at the Academies of Music in Detmold and Sion. At sixteen, she won the Tibor Varga International Violin Competition, thus attracting the attention of the international music world.
Today, Mirijam Contzen works throughout the world with major conductors and orchestras, including the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, the RSO Berlin, the RSO Frankfurt, the Bamberger Symphoniker, the Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg, the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, the Stuttgarter Kammerorchester, the bayerische kammerphilharmonie, the Münchner and the Kölner Kammerorchester. She has appeared in the Berlin, Munich and Cologne symphony halls, in Carnegie Hall, the Alte Oper Frankfurt, the Laeiszhalle Hamburg, the Musikverein Vienna, the Wigmore Hall London, the Tonhalle Zurich, the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées Paris, the Victoria Hall Geneva as well as the Megaron Athen and the Suntory Hall Tokyo.
The violinist toured three countries in March 2007 with the Munich Radio Orchestra and Bobby McFerrin. At the opening concert of the 2007 Ruhr Piano Festival, Mirijam Contzen performed Beethoven’s Triple Concerto with Herbert Schuch and Adrian Brendel. She debuted in 2004 at the Salzburg Summer Festival and is a regular guest at such major festivals as the Rheingau Music Festival, the Verbier Festival, the MDR Music Summer, the Athen Festival and the Taipei Music Festival. Claudio Abbado invited her to the "Berlin Encounters".
Mirijam Contzen places great emphasis on chamber music as well; her intensive cooperation with pianist Herbert Schuch is one of her main focuses. In addition, she has performed together with Leonidas Kavakos, Misha Maisky, Joshua Bell, Janine Jansen, Emmanuel Ax and Pierre Laurent Aimard. Since 2005, Mirijam Contzen has led her own chamber music festival at Cappenberg Castle.
Mirijam Contzen received the ECHO Klassik prize as best young artist for her CD Favourite Violin Pieces from 2001. She has released a CD of Brahms, Schubert and Zemlinsky with pianist Herbert Schuch on the OehmsClassics label (OC 596).