Anne-Sophie Mutter

Anne-Sophie Mutter is universally considered to be one of the greatest violinists of modern times. Her artistry embraces everything from tonal richness and consummate technical virtuosity to transcendent expression and profound musicianship. Born in the German border town of Rheinfelden, she showed signs of exceptional talent at an early age. She had her first violin lessons from Erna Honigberger, a pupil of Carl Flesch, and at the age of nine began studying with Aïda Stucki, one of Switzerland's finest musicians and an inspirational teacher. In 1976, at the Lucerne Festival, Herbert von Karajan heard the 13-year-old Mutter in recital and subsequently invited her to make her concerto debut with the Berliner Philharmoniker at the 1977 Salzburg Whitsun Festival. Their collaborations continued regularly and her debuts in Berlin (1978), Washington and New York (1980), Tokyo (1981) and Moscow (1985) garnered critical acclaim and helped establish her regular presence at the world's major concert halls. Mutter is a champion of contemporary music, the future of string playing and supporting young musicians. In 1986, Mutter became the International Chair in Violin Studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London and founded the Rudolf Eberle Trust the year after for the development of outstandingly gifted young string players throughout Europe. The initiative turned global after it was incorporated into the Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation and has helped launch the careers of many fine artists, Daniel Müller-Schott, Sergey Khachatryan, Roman Patkoló, Leonard Elschenbroich and Kian Soltani, to name a few. The Mutter Virtuosi is an ensemble made up of former and current scholarship holders of the foundation and selected other young musicians. She has also premiered several works of new music composers, including Rihm, Penderecki, Dutilleux, Gubaidulina, and Currier. In addition to young musicians, Mutter has long used her public profile to support and promote charitable causes, notably those associated with the alleviation of medical and social problems. Her benefit concerts have raised funds for, among other organisations, Save the Children Japan and Save the Children Yemen, the Swiss Multiple Sclerosis Society, victims of the 2011 Japanese tsunami and nuclear energy disasters, the Hanna and Paul Gräb Foundation's Haus der Diakonie in Wehr-Öflingen, Artists against Aids, the Bruno Bloch Foundation, the Beethoven Fund for Deaf Children, SOS Children's Villages in Syria, the Leipzig Refugee Council and the Healing Arts Program at the Fred and Pamela Buffett Cancer Center (Omaha).