David Garrett

David Garrett was born in 1980 in Aachen, Germany, the son of an American prima ballerina and a German lawyer and violin auctioneer. He was given his first violin at the age of four. His father not only recognised his extraordinary aptitude for this instrument; he also worked with David himself on the violin for many years. Garrett also received special violin training for gifted young violinists from Coosje Wijzenbeek in The Netherlands. This was followed by studies at the Lübeck Musikhochschule with Zakhar Bron as well as in Berlin. In August 1991 he made his debut with the Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra and an encounter with Ida Haendel in London led to an intensive period of coaching from the great Polish violinist in 1992. As a young artist of 13, he was signed to an exclusive contract by Deutsche Grammophon. That year he was invited by the then German president Richard von Weizsäcker to give a concert at Villa Hammerschmidt, his official residence in Bonn. David’s move to New York to study at the Juilliard School – musicology, as well as violin with Itzhak Perlman and composition with Eric Ewazen – has also enabled him to write and arrange works for himself. The winner of five ECHO awards and Golden Camera prize-winner is active as an ambassador for the German branch of the José Carreras International Leukaemia Foundation.