Anne-Sophie Mutter facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Anne-Sophie Mutter
Mutter in 2019
Born	(1963-06-29) 29 June 1963 (age 62) Rheinfelden, Baden-Württemberg, West Germany
Occupation	Violinist
Spouse(s)	Detlef Wunderlich ​ ​ (m. 1989; died 1995)​ André Previn ​ ​ (m. 2002; div. 2006)​
Children	2
Musical career
Genres	Classical
Instruments	Emiliani Stradivarius 1703 Lord Dunn-Raven Stradivarius 1710
Years active	1976–present
Labels	Deutsche Grammophon EMI Classics Sony Classical

Anne-Sophie Mutter (born June 29, 1963) is a famous German violinist. She grew up in Rheinfelden, Germany. Anne-Sophie started playing the violin when she was five years old. She continued her music studies in Germany and Switzerland.

A famous conductor named Herbert von Karajan helped her early in her career. She played with the Berlin Philharmonic orchestra for the first time in 1977. Since the 1970s, Anne-Sophie Mutter has become very well-known. She has recorded over 50 albums, mostly with Deutsche Grammophon. She performs as a solo artist with top orchestras around the world. Her main violin is a special one called the Lord Dunn–Raven Stradivarius.

Anne-Sophie Mutter plays many types of classical violin music. This includes music from the Baroque period up to the 20th century. But she is also famous for playing and asking for new music from today's composers. She supports new music and many pieces have been written just for her. Some of these composers include John Williams, André Previn, and Sofia Gubaidulina.

She has won many awards, like four Grammy Awards. She also received the Legion of Honour from France and the Praemium Imperiale from Japan. She is an honorary member of the Royal Academy of Music. Anne-Sophie Mutter also started foundations to help young musicians. She often plays in concerts to raise money for good causes. Since 2021, she has been the president of the German Cancer Aid.

Early Life and Musical Start

Anne-Sophie Mutter was born in Rheinfelden, Germany. Her parents were Karl Wilhelm and Gerlinde Mutter. She grew up with two older brothers. Her father was a journalist, and her mother was the first woman in her family to finish college. Even though no one in her family played music, they all loved classical music.

Anne-Sophie began piano lessons at age five. After a few months, she switched to the violin. This happened after she heard an album of violin concertos by Mendelssohn and Beethoven. Her parents had given this album to each other as an engagement gift. When she was six, after only one year of playing, she won the National Music Prize. In 1972, she played her first concert with the Musikkollegium Winterthur.

She was inspired by a recording of violinist Yehudi Menuhin. She then began studying with Erna Honigberger. After Honigberger passed away in 1974, Anne-Sophie continued her studies with Aida Stucki. She studied with Stucki at the Winterthur Conservatory.

Her Amazing Career

Becoming a Star in the 1970s and 1980s

Anne-Sophie Mutter with Aida Stucki

People started to notice Anne-Sophie's playing. She stopped going to regular school to focus on music full-time. The famous conductor Herbert von Karajan arranged for her to play with the Berlin Philharmonic. She was only 13 years old when she made her first public appearance in 1976. This was at the Lucerne Festival, where she played Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 4.

In 1977, she performed at the Salzburg Whitsun Festival. She also played with the English Chamber Orchestra, led by Daniel Barenboim. Critics were amazed by how mature her playing was. One reviewer wrote that she played "ravishingly" and not like a child prodigy. They said her technique was "fully mature." When she was 15, Anne-Sophie made her first recording. It was Mozart's Third and Fifth violin concertos with Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic.

Anne-Sophie Mutter started performing outside Europe in the early 1980s. In 1980, she played in America for the first time with the New York Philharmonic. She performed Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto. That same year, she also played with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the National Symphony Orchestra. The next year, she made her debut at Carnegie Hall in New York.

In 1983, she played with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Her first performance in Japan was in Tokyo in 1981. She then played in Russia for the first time in Moscow in 1985. After playing with the London Symphony Orchestra in 1980, she became the honorary President of Oxford University's Mozart Society. In 1985, at age 22, she became an honorary fellow of the Royal Academy of Music in London.

In the late 1980s, Anne-Sophie began to play more new music. This became a very important part of her career. In 1986, she performed Witold Lutosławski's "Chain 2" for the first time. In 1988, Norbert Moret wrote his Violin Concert "En rêve" for her. That same year, she toured Canada and the United States. She played as a soloist with orchestras and gave solo concerts with pianist Lambert Orkis.

International Fame in the 1990s

By the 1990s, Anne-Sophie Mutter was a global music star. People called her a "master of the violin." Critics noted her elegant style. One writer said she was "the only world star made in Germany" in instrumental music. They said she was the first German violinist to reach the top level worldwide.

In the 1990s, Anne-Sophie performed new pieces by Wolfgang Rihm, Sebastian Currier, and Krzysztof Penderecki. She also released some of her most popular albums. These included "Carmen Fantasie" (1993) and Vivaldi's Four Seasons (1994 and 1999).

In 1998, she played and recorded all of Beethoven's Violin Sonatas. These were released in 1999 and shown on TV in many countries. Anne-Sophie spent a whole year performing all ten of Beethoven's violin sonatas. This tour was called "Beethoven: Face to Face." A music critic from the New York Times said her playing had "rich yet focused tone" and "striking varieties of sound." He also noted that her work with living composers brought "new intellectual energy" to her playing.

New Music and Collaborations in the 2000s

As the new century began, Anne-Sophie continued to support new music. She started working with composer and conductor André Previn. He wrote several pieces especially for her. In 2002, she performed Previn's "Tango Song and Dance" for the first time. She also gave the first performance and recording of Previn's Violin Concerto with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. This recording was very successful.

Anne-Sophie toured with orchestras led by Previn. She performed his concerto and later premiered his double concerto for violin and contrabass in 2007. Two years later, she performed his Second Piano Trio and a Concerto for Violin and Viola for the first time. Other new works written for her included Henri Dutilleux's "Nocturne" (2002) and Sofia Gubaidulina's violin concerto (2007).

From 2005 to 2006, Anne-Sophie toured for Mozart's 250th Anniversary. She played all of Mozart's Violin Concertos and other works in Europe, North America, and Asia. Five DVD and CD recordings of these performances were released. In 2006, she said her words were "misinterpreted" about retiring at 45. She said she would keep playing as long as she could bring "anything new, anything important, anything different to music."

Touring and New Works in the 2010s and Beyond

Mutter with Lambert Orkis (2021)

Anne-Sophie Mutter continued to perform classical and new music throughout the 2010s. She toured across many continents. She kept working with Lambert Orkis and played major classical concertos. She premiered new works like Wolfgang Rihm's "Lichtes Spiel" (2010) and Sebastian Currier's "Time Machines" (2011).

In 2011, Anne-Sophie started the Mutter Virtuosi. This group is made up of talented students and graduates from her foundation. They perform with her and have toured worldwide. They play both modern and classic pieces, like Vivaldi's Four Seasons. In 2015, she and the Mutter Virtuosi played works by Bach, Vivaldi, Gershwin, and John Williams at a club in Berlin. This was recorded for "The Club Album."

She premiered Previn's "Violin Concerto no. 2" in 2012. In 2017, she premiered John Williams' "Markings" for solo violin, strings, and harp. In 2018, she performed Previn's "The Fifth Season" and other new works by Penderecki. She also gave a concert with pianist Lang Lang in Berlin in 2018.

In 2019, Anne-Sophie Mutter teamed up with John Williams to perform his film music for solo violin and orchestra. This tour and album were called "Across The Stars." It included famous themes from Star Wars and Harry Potter. That same year, she toured Europe playing Beethoven's Triple Concerto with Daniel Barenboim and Yo-Yo Ma.

In September 2019, Anne-Sophie Mutter paused a concert to ask someone to stop recording on their phone. This event was widely reported and sparked discussions about phone use at concerts. Recently, she has premiered several pieces written for her. These include Jörg Widmann's string quartet "Studie über Beethoven" (2020) and John Williams' Concerto for Violin and Orchestra No. 2 (2021). She also premiered Unsuk Chin's violin duet "Gran Cadenza" (2021) and Thomas Adès' "Air – Homage to Sibelius" (2022). Her 2023 Virtuosi tour included works by Joseph Bologne to help bring his music back to life.

What She Plays

Anne-Sophie Mutter plays many traditional classical pieces for the violin. She has performed and recorded major violin concertos by composers like Bach, Bartok, Beethoven, Brahms, Mendelssohn, Mozart, Sibelius, Tchaikovsky, and Vivaldi. Her music also includes double and triple concertos, violin romances, and popular orchestral works. She also plays solo pieces by Bach and Paganini.

She performs chamber music too, like violin sonatas by Beethoven, Brahms, and Mozart. She also plays trios and string quartets. Even though she plays many classical works, Anne-Sophie is especially known for performing new music. Many pieces have been written just for her. These include works by Henri Dutilleux, Krzysztof Penderecki, Witold Lutosławski, Wolfgang Rihm, and Sofia Gubaidulina.

Her recording of André Previn's Violin Concerto "Anne-Sophie" won a Grammy Award. Her recordings of Penderecki's Violin Concerto No. 2 and Rihm's "Time Chant" also won Grammy Awards. The famous film composer John Williams has written original music for her. This includes "Markings" (2017) and arrangements of his movie themes called "Across the Stars" (2019). Anne-Sophie asked Williams to write his second violin concerto, which she recorded in 2022. She also played as a soloist in John Williams' first concert with the Vienna Philharmonic in 2020. This concert became a best-selling album.

Her Playing Style

Anne-Sophie Mutter, 2021

Anne-Sophie Mutter is known for her amazing violin skills. She has a wide range of styles and a rich, clear sound. Critics say she studies the music very carefully. She often looks at old letters and original music scores to understand the composer's ideas. Some people praise her playing as graceful and smart. Others find it very detailed and unique.

Anne-Sophie is also known for wearing strapless gowns when she performs. She explained that she feels fabric on her shoulder makes it hard to hold her violin firmly.

Her Special Violins

She owns two very valuable Stradivarius violins. One is called the Emiliani from 1703, and the other is the Lord Dunn-Raven Stradivarius from 1710. She mostly plays the Lord Dunn-Raven. She bought the Emiliani in 1979 and the Lord Dunn-Raven in 1984. She also has a Finnigan-Klaembt violin from 1999 and a Regazzi violin from 2005.

Anne-Sophie has said her Stradivarius violin is like her "soul mate." She feels they become "one, musically" when she is on stage. She loves the "depths of the colors and the incredible amount of dynamic range" of her Stradivarius. She prefers the Lord Dunn-Raven because it has the "unbridled power" she needs for powerful moments in pieces by composers like Beethoven and Brahms.

Helping Others

Throughout her career, Anne-Sophie Mutter has played many concerts to help different organizations. These include Save the Children, Artists against Aids, and the Swiss Multiple Sclerosis Society. In 2018, she gave a concert to remember a special concert from May 1945 for Holocaust survivors. In 2022, she performed Jewish music at Peenemünde, a former Nazi army research center. Since March 2022, she has been giving concerts to help Ukrainians.

In 1997, Anne-Sophie started the Association of Friends of the Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation. In 2008, she created the Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation. These foundations help young string musicians and give scholarships to talented individuals. She believes that "Music should grip people, move people; it should tell stories; it should have an impact." Since 2011, the Mutter Virtuosi group performs with her. This group includes students supported by her foundation. Famous musicians like Vilde Frang and Daniel Müller-Schott have been part of her foundation.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Anne-Sophie Mutter spoke about how lockdowns affected musicians. She asked the German government to help musicians financially. In 2021, Anne-Sophie Mutter was chosen as the president of the German Cancer Aid.

Personal Life

In 1989, Anne-Sophie married Detlef Wunderlich. They had two children, Arabella and Richard. Detlef passed away in 1995. She dedicated her 1999 album, Vivaldi: The Four Seasons, to his memory. In 2002, she married the pianist, composer, and conductor André Previn. They divorced in 2006 but continued to work together and remained friends. She lives in Munich, Germany.

Awards and Special Recognition

Mutter receives honorary doctorate from NTNU in Trondheim (2010)

Anne-Sophie Mutter has received many important awards and honors:

• Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance:

* For Beethoven: The Violin Sonatas (2000)

• Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist(s) Performance (with orchestra):

* For Previn: Violin Concerto "Anne-Sophie"/Bernstein: Serenade (2005) * For Penderecki: Violin Concerto No. 2, Metamorphosen (1999) * For Berg: Violin Concerto/Rihm: Time Chant (1994)

• The street "Anne-Sophie-Mutter-Weg" in Wehr, Baden-Württemberg was named after her (1988).
• Order of Merit of Baden-Württemberg (1999)
• Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art (1999)
• Sonning Award (Denmark, 2001)
• Bavarian Maximilian Order for Science and Art (2002)
• Herbert von Karajan Music Prize (2003)
• Knight of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (2005)
• Grand Decoration of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria (2007)
• Ernst von Siemens Music Prize (2008)
• Mendelssohn Prize (2008)
• Merit Cross 1st Class of the Federal Republic of Germany (2009)
• Chevalier de la Legion d'honneur (France, 2009)
• Echo Klassik as Instrumentalist (2009, 2014)
• Doctor Honoris Causa from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (2010)
• Brahms Prize (2011)
• Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music
• Named a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2013)
• Gold Medal of Merit in the Fine Arts (2016)
• Romanian Cultural Order of Merit (2017)
• Gold Medal for Merit to Culture – Gloria Artis (2018)
• Polar Music Prize (2019)
• Praemium Imperiale (2019)
• Opus Klassik, Category Instrumentalist (Violin) for Across the Stars (2020)
• Opus Klassik Instrumentalist of the Year Award (2023) for Williams' Violin Concerto No. 2 & Selected Film Themes

Discography

Here are some of the albums Anne-Sophie Mutter has recorded:

See also

In Spanish: Anne-Sophie Mutter para niños