Anne-Sophie Mutter | 24.04.2024

Anne-Sophie Mutter is a musical phenomenon: for 48 years the virtuoso has now been a fixture in all the world’s major concert halls, making her mark on the classical music scene as a soloist, mentor and visionary. The four-time Grammy® Award winner is equally committed to the performance of traditional composers as to the future of music.
So far she has given world premieres of 31 works – Thomas Adès, Unsuk Chin, Sebastian Currier, Henri Dutilleux, Sofia Gubaidulina, Witold Lutoslawski, Norbert Moret, Krzysztof Penderecki, Sir André Previn, Wolfgang Rihm, Jörg Widmann and John Williams have all composed for Anne-Sophie Mutter. She dedicates herself to supporting tomorrow’s musical elite and numerous benefit projects. Furthermore, the board of trustees of the German cancer charity “Deutsche Krebshilfe” elected her the new president of the non-profit organization in 2021. Since January 2022 she joins the foundation board of the Lucerne Festival. In the autumn of 1997 she founded the Association of Friends of the Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation e.V., to which the Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation was added in 2008. These two charitable institutions provide support for the scholarship recipients, support which is tailored to the fellows’ individual needs. Since 2011, Anne-Sophie Mutter has regularly shared the spotlight on stage with her ensemble of fellows, Mutter’s Virtuosi.
Anne-Sophie Mutter’s concert calendar in 2024 features performances in Asia, Europe and North America, once again reflecting the musical versatility of the violinist and her unprecedented standing in the world of classical music. Numerous compositions dedicated to her will be part of these concerts; in many countries, they will be performed for the first time.
Her first recording was released in 1978: Mozart’s Violin Concerti Nos. 3 and 5 with Herbert von Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic. Since then she has made numerous recordings, for which Anne-Sophie Mutter has received four Grammies®, nine Echo Classic Awards, the German Recording Award, the Record Academy Prize, the Grand Prix du Disque and the International Phono Award.
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.
In June 2023, Anne-Sophie Mutter received the Ruhr Piano Festival Prize, and the Royal Philharmonic Society awarded her its Gold Medal. The Krzysztof Penderecki Music Academy in Cracow bestowed an honorary doctorate on her in 2022. In 2019, Anne-Sophie Mutter was honoured to receive the Praemium Imperiale in the music category; she received the 2019 Polar Music Prize. Poland awarded the Gloria Artis Gold Medal for Cultural Achievements to Anne-Sophie Mutter in 2018, making her the first German artist to receive such an honour. In 2018 the violinist was named an honorary member of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. In 2017 Romania awarded the Order of Cultural Merit in the rank of a Grand Officer to Anne-Sophie Mutter and France honoured her by presenting her with the insignia of a Commander of the French Order of the Arts and Literature. In 2016 the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports awarded her the “Medalla de oro al Mérito en las Bellas Artes” (Gold Medal for Merits in the Fine Arts). In 2015, Anne-Sophie Mutter was named an Honorary Fellow of Keble College at the University of Oxford. In 2013 she became a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, after winning the medal of the Lutosławski Society (Warsaw) in January. In 2012 the Atlantic Council bestowed the Distinguished Artistic Leadership Award upon her. In 2011 she received the Brahms Prize as well as the Erich Fromm Prize and the Gustav Adolf Prize for her social activism. In 2010 the Technical-Scientific University of Norway in Trondheim bestowed an honorary doctorate upon her; in 2009 she won the European St. Ulrich Award as well as the Cristobal Gabarron Award. In 2008 Anne-Sophie Mutter was the recipient of the International Ernst von Siemens Music Prize as well as the Leipzig Mendelssohn Prize.
The violinist has been awarded the German Grand Order of Merit, the French Medal of the Legion of Honour, the Bavarian Order of Merit, the Decoration of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria, and numerous other honours.
Anne-Sophie Mutter is associated with the German label Deutsche Grammophon.