Soloists

Isabelle Faust

Isabelle Faust captivates her audience with her compelling interpretations. She approaches each piece with the utmost respect and sensitivity towards its musical historical context and the historic use of instruments. By combining the greatest possible authenticity with a contemporary perspective, she manages to constantly illuminate and passionately perform a wide variety of works for a diverse audience.

After winning the renowned Leopold Mozart Competition and the Paganini Competition at a very young age, she soon gave regular performances with the world’s major orchestras including the Berlin Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, NHK Symphony Orchestra Tokyo, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Les Siècles and the Baroque Orchestra Freiburg.

This led to close and sustained cooperation with conductors like Andris Nelsons, Giovanni Antonini, François-Xavier Roth, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Daniel Harding, Philippe Herreweghe, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Klaus Mäkelä, Robin Ticciati and Sir Simon Rattle whom she will tour with again in March 2024.

Isabelle Faust’s vast artistic curiosity includes all eras and forms of instrumental cooperation. In addition to big symphonic violin concertos this includes, for example, Schubert’s Octet with historical instruments as well as Stravinsky’s L’Histoire du Soldat with Dominique Horwitz or Kurtág’s Kafka Fragments. She is committed to performing contemporary music and recent world premieres include works by Péter Eötvös, Brett Dean, Ondřej Adámek and Rune Glerup.

Highlights in the 2023/24 season include the celebration of György Ligeti’s 100th birthday with an extensive tour with Les Siècles and François-Xavier Roth, in which Ligeti’s work enters into a close dialogue with Mozart’s timeless œuvre, collaborations with orchestras including the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, NDR Radiophilharmonie, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Orquesta Nacional de España, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, NHK Symphony Orchestra, as well as a tour with the London Symphony Orchestra. She is also Artist in Residence with the SWR Symphony Orchestra. Her focus in chamber music will be on projects with Antoine Tamestit, Kristian Bezuidenhout, Anne Katharina Schreiber, Kristin von der Goltz, Alexander Melnikov, and Jean-Guihen Queyras.

Numerous recordings have been unanimously praised by critics and awarded the Diapason d’or, the Grammophone Award, the Choc de l’année and other prizes. Her most recent recordings include Stravinsky’s Violin Concerto with Les Siècles and François-Xavier Roth, Schoenberg’s Violin Concerto under the baton of Daniel Harding and with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, as well as Beethoven’s Triple Concerto with Alexander Melnikov, Jean-Guihen Queyras, Pablo Heras-Casado and the Freiburger Barockorchester. Her previous recordings include Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin by Bach as well as violin concertos by Beethoven and Berg under the direction of Claudio Abbado. She shares a long-standing chamber music partnership with the pianist Alexander Melnikov and their joint recordings include sonatas for piano and violin by Mozart, Beethoven and Brahms.

Photo: Felix Broede