Photo: Marco Borggreve
Viviane Hagner
Representation: General Management
Munich-born violinist Viviane Hagner has won exceptional praise for her highly intelligent musicality and passionate artistry. Typical comments from critics include ‘poise and magnificent assurance’ (The Times) and ‘a spine-chilling recital, an almost hauntingly masterful display of technique and artistry’ (Washington Post), while the Berliner Morgenpost wrote: ‘Listening to Viviane Hagner play the violin is an enchanting experience… she is both a thoughtful and brilliant violinist. In her playing, she knows how to combine reflection and luminosity in the most striking way.’
Since making her international debut at the age of 12, and a year later participating in the legendary ‘joint concert’ of the Israel and Berlin Philharmonics (conducted by Zubin Mehta in Tel Aviv), Viviane Hagner has acquired a depth and maturity in her playing that is reflected in her serene stage presence. She has appeared with the world’s great orchestras including the Berlin Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony, the Chicago Symphony, the Czech Philharmonic, the Leipzig Gewandhaus, the Munich Philharmonic, the New York Philharmonic and the Philharmonia, in partnership with conductors such as Abbado, Ashkenazy, Barenboim, Chailly, Chung, Eschenbach and Kreizberg. Recent concert highlights include appearances with the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, Cincinnati Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony and Tonhalle Orchestra Zürich, as well as recitals at the Wigmore Hall, Mozarteum Salzburg and Konzerthaus in Berlin. Viviane performs regularly in Asia and last season gave concerts with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, NSO Taiwan and Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra under Sylvain Cambreling. She also undertook a successful European tour of the Brahms Double Concerto for Violin and Cello with the Dresdner Philharmoniker and Danjulo Ishizaka.
As well as bringing insight and virtuosity to the central concerto repertoire, Viviane Hagner is an ardent advocate of new, neglected and undiscovered music. Composers whose work she champions include Sofia Gubaidulina, Karl Amadeus Hartmann and Witold Lutoslawski. In 2002 she gave the world premiere of Unsuk Chin’s Violin Concerto with the Deutsche Sinfonie-Orchester Berlin and Kent Nagano, later taking the work to the US. After the premiere of Simon Holt’s new Violin Concerto with the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Jonathan Nott in 2006, The Sunday Times critic wrote that she ‘caught the music’s soul.’
A committed chamber musician, she has performed at renowned international festivals including Salzburg Easter Festival, Schleswig-Holstein, Marlboro, Ravinia and New York’s Mostly Mozart; and has appeared at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Barcelona Palau de la Musica, Berlin Konzerthaus, Köln Philharmonie, London’s Wigmore Hall and New York’s 92nd St Y series.
This season she returns to North America for a performance in Carnegie Hall and concert tour with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra performing Vieuxtemps Violin Concerto No. 5 and she also returns to the Unsuk Chin Violin Concerto with a performance at the Festival Hall with the Philharmonia Orchestra and Esa-Pekka Salonen. Her season also includes an appearance with the National Arts Center Orchestra and Pinchas Zukerman in Ottawa, numerous concerts in Germany with orchestras such as the Gürzernich-Orchester Köln and MDR-Sinfonieorchester Leipzig and chamber recitals at Frankfurt Alte Oper, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw and the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London.
The Hyperion label has issued her performances of Vieuxtemps Violin Concerti 4 & 5 and the Canadian company Analekta recently released her recording of Unsuk Chin’s Violin Concerto with Kent Nagano and the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal. Her first recital recording features solo works by Bartók, Hartmann and Bach.
Viviane Hagner plays the Sasserno Stradivarius made in 1717, generously loaned to her by the Nippon Music Foundation.
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Email: James Leakey
