A wonderfully versatile musician, Carolin Widmann’s activities span the great classical concerti, new commissions specially written for her, solo recitals, a wide variety of chamber music and period instrument performances, including play/direction from the violin. Widmann was awarded the Bayerischer Staatspreis für Musik in 2017, honoring her individuality and exceptional musicianship. Widmann was also the recipient of an International Classical Music Award (Concerto category) for her critically acclaimed recording of both Mendelssohn’s and Schumann’s Violin Concertos with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, released in August 2016 by ECM and which Widmann herself conducted from the violin.
Named ‘Musician of the Year’ at the International Classical Music Awards 2013, Widmann has enjoyed collaborations with some of the world’s leading orchestras including the Berliner Philharmoniker, Orchestre de Paris, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Seattle Symphony, Sydney Symphony, Deutsches Symphonie Orchester Berlin, Leipzig Gewandhaus, Tonhalle Orchester Zürich, BBC Symphony Orchestra, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester, Czech Philharmonic and Philharmonia Orchestra, with distinguished conductors such as Sir Simon Rattle, Riccardo Chailly, Sir Roger Norrington, Edward Gardner, Sakari Oramo, Esa Pekka Salonen Vladimir Jurowski, Alan Gilbert, Daniel Harding, Christoph von Dohnányi and François-Xavier Roth.
Recent highlights include Carolin’s debuts with the Los Angeles Philharmonic with Esa Pekka Salonen, Scottish Chamber Orchestra with Maxim Emelyanychev, Munich Philharmonic, Dresden Philharmonic, and the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester with Robin Ticciati, her New York debut play/directing the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, as well as returns to the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra at the Musikverein, and the WDR Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester Cologne. Additionally, the 21-22 season saw Carolin give two premiere performances – a new Haas Concerto with the Kammerorchester Basel at the Beethovenfest Bonn, as well as a new Streich Concerto with the Münchener Kammerorchester. Carolin has also embarked on an Italian recital tour with Dénes Varjon, as well as return to Paris for performances with both the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and the Insula Orchestra.
The 2022-23 season will see Carolin give performances with the Sao Paulo State Symphony (OSESP), NSO Taiwan, Barcelona Orquesta, Casa da Música, and Staatstheater Hanover. She will also return to the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris at the Philharmonie in Paris performing the Ligeti Concerto, and to the Alter Oper with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra. Other notable highlights of the season include a return to the Philharmonia Orchestra at London’s Royal Festival Hall, SWR Symphonieorchester, and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra where Carolin will premiere a new concerto by Veli-Matti Puumala.
A prolific chamber musician, Carolin appears regularly at the leading concert halls including Wigmore Hall London, Bozar in Brussels, Louvre Paris, Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, Philharmonie Berlin, and the Vienna Konzerthaus. She has also appeared at such widely known festivals as Berliner Festspiele, Salzburg, Lucerne, Festival d' Automne Paris, Ravinia Festival and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.
Carolin’s discs of Schubert and Schumann sonatas received critical acclaim including the “Diapason d'Or” and the German Record Critics' Award. In 2006, Carolin Widmann's debut CD, “Reflections I,” was named “Critics' Choice of the Year” by the German Record Critics’ Award Association.
Carolin Widmann is playing a G.B. Guadagnini violin from 1782 which is on loan from a Charitable Trust.
