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Instrumentalist of the Year: Antje Weithaas receives the OPUS KLASSIK 2025!
Congratulations to Antje Weithaas: The complete recording of the ten Beethoven violin sonatas with Dénes Várjon is honoured with the German Record Critics' Award 2024.
Antje Weithaas' recording of the Violin Concerto No. 2 by Pēteris Vasks, which she recorded together with the Camerata Bern, was released at the end of September.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Horn Quintet in E-flat Major, K.407
Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, String Octet in E-flat major, Op. 20
Antje Weithaas, violin
Vilde Frang, violin
Maria Ioudenitch, violin
Stephen Waarts, violin
Jan Larsen, viola
Sào Souléz Larivière, viola
Marie-Elisabeth Hecker, violoncello
Andreas Brantelid, violoncello
Julian Steckel, violoncello
Sibylle Mahni, horn
Ludwig van Beethoven, Sonata for Piano and Violin No. 4 in A minor, Op. 23
Johannes Brahms, String Sextet No.1 in B-flat major, Op. 18
Martin Helmchen, piano
Zoltán Kodály, Serenade op. 12
Robert Schumann, Piano Quartet in E flat major Op. 47
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Symphony No. 29 A major, K 201
Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Concerto for Violin and String Orchestra in D minor
Maurice Ravel, Tzigane
Dmitri Schostakowitsch, Chamber Symphony for Strings in C minor, Op.110a
Concertgebouw Chamber Orchestra
Edvard Grieg, Holberg Suite, op. 40
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Violin concerto No. 5 in A major KV 219
Peter Tschaikowsky (Arrangement: Michael Waterman), String Sextet 'Souvenir de Florence', Op. 70
Johann Sebastian Bach, Sonata No. 2 in A minor BWV 1003
Eugène Ysaye, Sonata for solo violin Op 27 No 3
Eugène Ysaye, Sonata for solo violin Op 27 No 2
Johann Sebastian Bach, Partita No. 2 in D minor BWV 1004
Ludwig van Beethoven, «Coriolan» Overture, Op. 62
Ludwig van Beethoven, Violin Concerto in D major Op. 61
Ludwig van Beethoven, Symphony No. 4 in B-flat major, Op. 60
Antje Weithaas, Solistin und Leitung
Taipei Symphony Orchestra
Johann Sebastian Bach, Sonata No. 1 in G minor, BWV 1001
Johann Sebastian Bach, Partita No. 1 in B minor BWV 1002
Johann Sebastian Bach, Sonata No. 3 in C major BWV 1005
Johann Sebastian Bach, Partita No. 3 in E major BWV 1006
Ludwig van Beethoven, Sonata for Piano and Violin No. 2 in A major, Op. 12/2
Ludwig van Beethoven, Sonata for Piano and Violin No. 9 in A Major, Op. 47 'Kreutzer'
Dénes Várjon, piano
Ludwig van Beethoven, Sonata for Piano and Violin No. 3 E-flat major, Op. 12
Ludwig van Beethoven, Sonate für Piano and Violin Nr. 6 A-Dur, Op. 30/1
Ludwig van Beethoven, Sonata for Piano and Violin No. 8 g Major, Op. 30/3
Ludwig van Beethoven, Sonata for Piano and Violin No.7 C Minor, Op. 30/2
Ludwig van Beethoven, Sonata for Piano and Violin No. 1 D major, Op. 12/1
Ludwig van Beethoven, Sonata for Piano and Violin No. 5 in F major, Op. 24 'Spring'
Ludwig van Beethoven, Sonata for Piano and Violin No.10 in G Major, Op. 96
Johann Sebastian Bach (Bearbeitung: Edward Elgar, Fantasia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 537
Dmitri Schostakowitsch, Violin Concerto No. 2 in C sharp minor, Op. 129
Johannes Brahms, Symphony No. 1 in C minor Op. 68
Concerto Budapest
András Keller, conductor
Benjamin Britten, Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge, Op. 10
Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Symphony No. 4, Op. 90 'Italian'
Swedish Chamber Orchestra
Franz Schubert, Sonatine a-Moll D 385 op. 137/2
Witold Lutosławski, Partita for violin and piano
Thomas Hoppe, piano
Antje Weithaas goes all out. She interprets Robert Schumann's first violin sonata, a work that could previously be understood as slightly melancholy and a beautiful contribution to domestic music, as music full of loneliness and forlornness. Her ability to evoke hell with a single note immerses the music in the highest emotionality. She not only masters the entire spectrum of creative mastery - she also utilises it mercilessly (…) Antje Weithaas, and this is certain, is not just a violinist, she is a musician, and currently one of the best. rbb Kultur, 13/12/2023
With captivating energy and a fine sense for nuances, Antje Weithaas gives her audience a "stellar hour of music" (FAZ) time and again. Her wide stylistic range and unmistakable musical language are fascinating. Blessed with impressive technical mastery and an enormous gamut of sound, she manages the feat of finding very individual readings of the great masterpieces and yet unpretentiously placing herself at the service of the composer. She has an extensive repertoire that includes the great concertos by Mozart, Beethoven and Schumann, new works such as Jörg Widmann’s Violin Concerto, modern classics by Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Ligeti and Gubaidulina, and lesser performed concertos by Hartmann and Schoeck.
As a soloist, Antje Weithaas has worked with most of Germany’s leading orchestras, including the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Bamberg Symphony and the major German radio orchestras, numerous major international orchestras such as the Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Philharmonia Orchestra and the BBC Symphony, as well as and the leading orchestras of the Netherlands, Scandinavia, and Asia. She has collaborated with the illustrious conductors Vladimir Ashkenazy, Dmitri Kitayenko, Sir Neville Marriner, Marc Albrecht, Yakov Kreizberg, Sakari Oramo and Carlos Kalmar.
Last season, Antje Weithaas completed the complete recording of Ludwig van Beethoven's violin sonatas with Dénes Várjon as her piano partner on CAvi-music, digitally distributed by Deutsche Grammophon which was honoured with the German Record Critics' Award 2024. Following her debut recital at the Pierre Boulez Saal, she and Dénes Várjon will perform the complete cycle there in May 2025. The two artists will continue to perform the entire cycle next season at the Casals Forum Kronberg and in Budapest, and will also perform Beethoven recitals in Italy.
Antje Weithaas is a sought-after conductor for play-conduct projects with international chamber orchestras. As artistic director of the Camerata Bern, she was responsible for the musical profile of the ensemble for almost ten years, with whom she continues to work regularly and whose next joint recordings on CAvi-music we can look forward to. From the podium of the concertmaster, she has even conducted large-scale works such as Beethoven's symphonies and released recordings of works by Tchaikovsky, Brahms, Mendelssohn and Beethoven. Her concerts as artiste associé of the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris in the 2021/22 season led to several new projects.
In 2013, Antje Weithaas produced a reference recording of the violin concertos by Beethoven and Berg with the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra under Steven Sloane (CAvi-music). The Arcanto Quartet's highly acclaimed recordings with Daniel Sepec, Tabea Zimmermann and Jean-Guihen Queyras, released on the Harmonia Mundi label, include works by Bartók, Brahms, Ravel, Dutilleux, Debussy, Schubert and Mozart. In 2016, her complete recording of Max Bruch's works for violin and orchestra with the NDR Radiophilharmonie under Hermann Bäumer was released on cpo. There was also an enthusiastic response to the complete recording of the solo sonatas and partitas by Johann Sebastian Bach and the solo sonatas by Eugène Ysaÿe as well as Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto and his 3rd String Quartet in an orchestral version with the Camerata Bern (CAvi). Two CDs were released in 2019: a recording of Robert Schumann's Violin Concerto and Johannes Brahms' Double Concerto with the NDR Radiophilharmonie, cellist Maximilian Hornung and conductor Andrew Manze, which won the BBC Music Magazine's “Concerto” Award, and a recording of Khachaturian's Violin Concerto and Concerto Rhapsody with the Staatsorchester Rheinische Philharmonie and conductor Daniel Raiskin. Antje Weithaas’ recording of Vasks' 2nd Violin Concerto In Evening Light with the Camerata Bern, released digitally by Deutsche Grammophon in 2024, shortens the wait for the next album, the Dvorak recording to be released this spring.
Antje Weithaas began playing the violin at the age of four and later studied at the Hochschule für Musik “Hanns Eisler” Berlin with Professor Werner Scholz. She won the Kreisler Competition in Graz in 1987 and the Bach Competition in Leipzig in 1988, as well as the Joseph Joachim International Violin Competition Hanover in 1991. Together with Oliver Wille, she has taken over the artistic leadership of the renowned Joachim competition. She taught as a professor at the Universität der Künste Berlin for several years before moving to the Hanns Eisler Academy of Music in 2004. Since then, she has become a world-class violin teacher. She plays on a 2001 Peter Greiner violin.
2024/2025 season
This biography is to be reproduced without any changes, omissions or additions, unless expressly authorised by the artist management.
Duo with Dénes Várjon (piano)L. v. Beethoven:Violinsonate G-Dur op. 96 „Frühlingssonate"Violinsonate D-Dur op. 12 Nr. 1Violinsonate A-Dur op. 30 Nr. 1Auch als kompletter Sonaten-Zyklus verfügbar.
Trio with Marie-Elisabeth Hecker (cello) & Martin Helmchen (piano)F. Schubert: Piano Trio No. 1 B-flat major, Op. 99 D 898 P. Tschaikowsky: Piano Trio A minor, Op. 50
(for the season of 2024/25)
“Antje Weithaas’s unassuming virtuosity comes into its own as she dispatches some extended three- and four-part chordal sequences, a well as a few treacherous tenths, without batting an eyelid or accepting any compromises as far as beauty of tone is concerned.” (on the new release of Pēteris Vasks' Violin Concerto No. 2 with the Camerata Bern)
The Strad, Carlos María Solare, April 2025
“In the final Andante con amore, the solo violin floats above the orchestral organ point at the beginning of the movement as if redeemed. Even in the icy heights of the finale, Weithaas' violin tone never becomes cold, but instead develops warmth and urgency.”
Backstage Classical, Georg Rudiger, 24/04/2025
“Her imaginative and intelligent playing gain its freedom from throwing herself into the musical relationship without reservation or fear, rather than from the orchestra.“
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Igor Kallenberg, 21/12/2024
“A work whose essence Antje Weithaas captures so surely that it should appeal to traditional music lovers as well as listeners open to more modern sounds.“
Aachener Zeitung, Pedro Obiera, 14/11/2024 (on the new release of Pēteris Vasks' Violin Concerto No. 2 with the Camerata Bern)
“The soloist's incredible and highly poetic virtuosity was especially fascinating.”
Rheinische Post, Ingo Hoddick, 26/4/2024 (on the new version of Manfred Trojahn's concerto for violin and orchestra)
“Weithaas and Várjon are stimulating interpreters of these wonderful works: you learn, listen and love as never before.”
Gramophone, Rob Cowan, June 2024 (Beethoven sonatas Vol. III)
“Weithaas' and Várjon’s cycle will be one to reckon with.”
Gramophone, Andrew Farach-Colton, 5/1/2024 (Beethoven sonatas Vol. II)
“Antje Weithaas and Dénes Várjon deliver a spirited result above all through their inspiring musicality and their playing of absolute precision and great concentration.”
Radio France, Emilie Munera/Rodolphe Bruneau-Boulmier, 18/5/2023 (Beethoven sonatas Vol. I: record of the day)
"The wonderful Antje Weithaas is able to develop the enormously demanding but not actually virtuoso solo part out of the line with such precious as well as unpretentious clarity - and raise the question why this magnificent piece has not made it into the repertoire."
Leipziger Volkszeitung, Peter Korfmacher, 8/11/2022 - on Szymanowski's Violin Concerto with the MDR Symphony Orchestra
"The violinist Antje Weithaas is simply prodigious in Beethoven's Violin Concerto, thanks to her playing which avoids all flashiness, internalizing Beethoven's sublime work to the maximum."
On-Mag, Michel Jakubowicz, 24/04/2022
"Antje Weithaas caresses and revels [in Schumann's Violin Concerto] with a devoted spontaneity and radian flair that brings this exclusive score fully to life in a way unmatched on disk."
The Strad, Julian Haylock, April 2020
Antje Weithaas, Dénes Várjon - Beethoven: I. Allegro [Violin Sonata No. 5 in F Major, Op. 24]
Violinistas compositores. Ysaÿe neobarroco | Antje Weithaas
Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy: Concerto D minor for Violin and Strings with Kammerakademie Potsdam
Antje Weithaas, Camerata Bern
CAvi, 2024, HD&SD digital release only
Antje Weithaas, Dénes Várjon
CAvi-music, 2024, 8553508
CAvi-music, 2023
CAvi-music, 2023, 8553512
Antje Weithaas, Staatsorchester Rheinische Philharmonie, Daniel Raiskincpo, 2019, 555 0932
Antje Weithaas, Maximilian Hornung, NDR Radiophilharmonie, Andrew Manzecpo, 2019, 555 172-2
Antje Weithaas, Camerata BernCAvi-music, 2018, 8553393
Antje WeithaasCAvi-music, 8553381, 2017