43 Facts About Anne-Sophie Mutter

Anne-Sophie Mutter was born on 29 June 1963 and is a German violinist.

Anne-Sophie Mutter was supported early in her career by Herbert von Karajan and made her orchestral debut with the Berlin Philharmonic in 1977.

Since Anne-Sophie Mutter gained prominence in the 1970s and 1980s, she has recorded over 50 albums and performed as a soloist with leading orchestras worldwide and as a recitalist.

Anne-Sophie Mutter's repertoire includes traditional classical violin works from the Baroque period to the 20th century, but she is known for performing, recording, and commissioning new works by present-day composers.

Anne-Sophie Mutter frequently gives benefits concerts and, since 2021, has been the president of the German Cancer Aid.

Anne-Sophie Mutter was born in the German town of Rheinfelden, Baden-Wurttemberg which lies some 15 kilometres east of Basel on the northern bank of the High Rhine river, across which lies the Swiss town of the same name.

Anne-Sophie Mutter's parents were Karl Wilhelm Mutter and Gerlinde Mutter and she was raised with two older brothers.

Anne-Sophie Mutter began playing the piano at the age of five, and shortly afterwards took up the violin.

At the age of six, Anne-Sophie Mutter won the National Music Prize, and in 1972, she gave her first concert with the Winterthurer Stadtorchester.

Anne-Sophie Mutter's playing began to receive attention and she stopped attending school to devote herself full-time to music.

Anne-Sophie Mutter started to perform outside Europe in the early 1980s.

In 1980, Anne-Sophie Mutter made her American debut with the New York Philharmonic playing Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto under Zubin Mehta.

Anne-Sophie Mutter made her recital debuts in New York, Washington, DC, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Montreal, Toronto, and other cities and debuted with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra.

Anne-Sophie Mutter premiered music by Krzysztof Penderecki and Andre Previn and performed classic works such as Beethoven's Violin Concerto and violin sonatas by Beethoven, Brahms, Franck, and Tartini.

Anne-Sophie Mutter devoted an entire year to performing all ten of Beethoven's violin sonatas in the "Beethoven: Face to Face" tour in cities throughout North America and Europe, including additional modern pieces.

Anne-Sophie Mutter's playing had its trademark qualities: rich yet focused tone, striking varieties of sound, articulate yet supple rhythmic play.

Anne-Sophie Mutter premiered a Tango Song and Dance in 2002, which Previn composed for her.

Anne-Sophie Mutter gave the first permanence and recording of Previn's Violin Concerto with the Boston Symphony Orchestra the same year, of which the recording became a critical success.

Anne-Sophie Mutter toured with orchestras under the direction of Previn, performing his concerto and later premiering Previn's double concerto for violin and contrabass in 2007 with Roman Patkolo.

For Mozart's 250th Anniversary from 2005 to 2006, Anne-Sophie Mutter toured throughout Europe, North America, and Asia, including China, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan, performing Mozart's complete Violin Concertos, the Sinfonia Concertante for Violin, Viola and Orchestra and complete Piano Trios.

Anne-Sophie Mutter performed with Lambert Orkis and Andre Previn as pianists.

In October 2006, on French television, Anne-Sophie Mutter appeared to indicate that she would be retiring when she turned 45, in 2008.

Anne-Sophie Mutter performed classical and contemporary works during the 2010s, touring Europe, North America, Asia, South America, and Australia.

In 2018, Anne-Sophie Mutter premiered Previn's The Fifth Season, Krzysztof Penderecki's Sonata for Violin and Piano No 2, and his Duo concertante per violino e contrabbasso.

In 2018, Anne-Sophie Mutter gave a concert with pianist Lang Lang titled the Berlin Concert with the Staatskapelle Berlin under Manfred Honeck for the 120 Anniversary of Deutsche Grammophon.

In 2019, Anne-Sophie Mutter joined John Williams to perform William's works for solo violin and orchestra, titled "Across The Stars".

In March 2019, Anne-Sophie Mutter premiered Sebastian Currier's Ghost Trio with Daniel Muller-Schott and Lambert Orkis at Carnegie Hall.

In September 2019, Anne-Sophie Mutter stopped during a performance of Beethoven's Violin Concerto with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra to ask a cellphone user to stop recording.

Anne-Sophie Mutter's works include traditional classic pieces that are part of the violin repertoire.

Anne-Sophie Mutter has performed and made recordings of the major violin concertos by Bach, Bartok, Berg, Brahms, Bruch, Beethoven, Dvorak, Mendelssohn, Mozart, Sibelius, Tchaikovsky, and Vivaldi.

Anne-Sophie Mutter's repertoire includes performances and recordings of the double and triple concertos by Brahms and Beethoven, violin romances by Beethoven, Bruch, and Dvorak, and popular orchestral works by Massenet, Sarasate, and Saint Saens, and standard solo works by Bach and Paganini.

Anne-Sophie Mutter appeared as soloist in John Williams' debut concert with the Wiener Philharmoniker on 28 and 29 January 2020, recorded by Deutsche Grammophon and released in the live album "John Williams in Vienna", which became the best-selling album of orchestral music in 2020.

Anne-Sophie Mutter is known for her versatile technique, dynamic range of style, richness of tone and articulate, colorful sound.

Anne-Sophie Mutter explained that she felt having fabric on her shoulder made it too slippery to hold her violin firmly while she was playing.

Anne-Sophie Mutter owns two Stradivarius violins: the Emiliani of 1703, and the Lord Dunn-Raven Stradivarius of 1710, of which Mutter primarily performs on the latter.

Anne-Sophie Mutter owns a Finnigan-Klaembt dated 1999 and a Regazzi dated 2005.

In 2018, Anne-Sophie Mutter gave a benefit concert commemorating a liberation concert in May 1945 for Holocaust survivors by Jewish musicians at the St Ottilien Archabbey.

In 2022, the New York Philharmonic and Anne-Sophie Mutter performed Jewish music, including Previn's violin concerto at Peenemunde, a former Nazi army research center site.

Since March 2022, Anne-Sophie Mutter has been giving benefit concerts for Ukrainians in light of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

In 2021, Anne-Sophie Mutter was elected president of the German Cancer Aid.

In 1989, Anne-Sophie Mutter married her first husband, Detlef Wunderlich, with whom she had two children, Arabella and Richard.

Anne-Sophie Mutter dedicated her 1999 recording, Vivaldi: The Four Seasons, to his memory.

Anne-Sophie Mutter married the pianist, composer, and conductor Andre Previn in 2002.