Antje Weithaas (born 1966) is a German classical violinist. Apart from solo recitals and

chamber music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of Musical instrument, instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a Great chamber, palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music ...

performances, she has played with leading orchestras in Europe, Asia and the United States.

Career

Born in

Guben Guben (Polish language, Polish and Sorbian languages, Sorbian: ''Gubin'') is a town on the Lusatian Neisse river in Lower Lusatia, in the States of Germany, state of Brandenburg, in eastern Germany. Located in the Spree-Neiße Districts of German ...

, Weithaas studied at the Hochschule für Musik "Hanns Eisler" in Berlin." Prof. Antje Weithaas "
, profile, Hochschule für Musik "Hanns Eisler" In 1987 she won the Kreisler-Wettbewerb in

Graz Graz () is the capital of the Austrian Federal states of Austria, federal state of Styria and the List of cities and towns in Austria, second-largest city in Austria, after Vienna. On 1 January 2025, Graz had a population of 306,068 (343,461 inc ...

, in 1988 the

International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition The International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition () is a music competition in Leipzig, Germany, held by the Bach-Archiv Leipzig. It was founded in 1950 and was held every four years from 1964 to 1996 with five subjects and is now held every two ...

in Leipzig and in 1991 the International Joseph Joachim Violin Competition in Hannover, whose artistic director she became in 2019. Weithaas worked for some years as a professor at the

Berlin University of the Arts The Universität der Künste Berlin (UdK; also known in English as the Berlin University of the Arts), situated in Berlin, Germany, is the second largest art school in Europe. It is a public art and design school, and one of the four research uni ...

and moved in 2004 to the Hochschule für Musik "Hanns Eisler". Since 2017, she has also taught at the

Kronberg Academy The Kronberg Academy is a Private university, private music school for string instrumentalists based in Kronberg im Taunus, Germany. Founded in 1993 by Raimund Trenkler, the academy trains a select group of young musicians who have the potential ...

. Weithaas plays a 2001 instrument by Stefan-Peter Greiner. Apart from solo recitals and

performances, Weithaas has played with the

Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin The Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin (DSO) is a German broadcast orchestra based in Berlin. The orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families ...

and Bamberg Symphony as well as with the

Los Angeles Philharmonic The Los Angeles Philharmonic (LA Phil) is an American orchestra based in Los Angeles, California. The orchestra holds a regular concert season from October until June at the Walt Disney Concert Hall and a summer season at the Hollywood Bowl from ...

San Francisco Symphony The San Francisco Symphony, founded in 1911, is an American orchestra based in San Francisco, California. Since 1980 the orchestra has been resident at the Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall in the city's Hayes Valley, San Francisco, Hayes Valley ne ...

Philharmonia Orchestra The Philharmonia Orchestra is a British orchestra based in London. It was founded in 1945 by Walter Legge, a classical music record producer for EMI Classics, EMI. Among the conductors who worked with the orchestra in its early years were Rich ...

BBC Symphony Orchestra The BBC Symphony Orchestra (BBC SO) is a British orchestra based in London. Founded in 1930, it was the first permanent salaried orchestra in London, and is the only one of the city's five major symphony orchestras not to be self-governing. The ...

and leading orchestras in the Netherlands, Scandinavia and Asia, with conductors such as

Vladimir Ashkenazy Vladimir Davidovich Ashkenazy (, ''Vladimir Davidovich Ashkenazi''; born 6 July 1937) is a Soviet-born Icelandic pianist, chamber music performer, and conductor. Ashkenazy has collaborated with well-known orchestras and soloists. In addition, ...

Neville Marriner Sir Neville Marriner, (15 April 1924 – 2 October 2016) was an English conductor and violinist. Described as "one of the world's greatest conductors", Gramophone lists Marriner as one of the 50 greatest conductors and another compilation ra ...

Marc Albrecht Marc Albrecht (born 1964) is a German conductor resident in The Netherlands. He was chief conductor of the Dutch National Opera, the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra, and the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra from 2009 to 2020. Biography Born in ...

, Yakov Kreizberg,

Sakari Oramo Sakari Markus Oramo, (born 26 October 1965) is a Finnish conductor. He is chief conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Biography and career Born in Helsinki, Oramo is the son of two music academics who taught at the Sibelius Academy, Ilk ...

and

Carlos Kalmar Carlos Kalmar (born February 26, 1958, in Montevideo) is a Uruguayan conductor.Macaluso, p. 194 Biography Born to Jewish immigrant parents from Austria, Kalmar began violin studies at age six. At age fifteen, he enrolled at the Vienna Academy o ...

.Antje Weithaas

Central to her chamber music work is the Arcanto Quartet, with Daniel Sepec, Tabea Zimmermann and Jean-Guihen Queyras.

Harmonia Mundi Harmonia Mundi is a record label that specializes in classical music, jazz, and world music (on the World Village label). It was founded in France in 1958 and is now a subsidiary of PIAS Entertainment Group, which is itself owned by Universal M ...

has published her recordings of works by

Béla Bartók Béla Viktor János Bartók (; ; 25 March 1881 – 26 September 1945) was a Hungarian composer, pianist and ethnomusicologist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century; he and Franz Liszt are regarded as Hunga ...

Johannes Brahms Johannes Brahms (; ; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor of the mid-Romantic period (music), Romantic period. His music is noted for its rhythmic vitality and freer treatment of dissonance, oft ...

Maurice Ravel Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism in music, Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composer ...

Henri Dutilleux Henri Paul Julien Dutilleux (; 22 January 1916 – 22 May 2013) was a French composer of late 20th-century classical music. Among the leading French composers of his time, his work was rooted in the Impressionistic style of Debussy and R ...

Claude Debussy Achille Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionism in music, Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influe ...

and

Franz Schubert Franz Peter Schubert (; ; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical period (music), Classical and early Romantic music, Romantic eras. Despite his short life, Schubert left behind a List of compositions ...

. Weithaas partners with the pianist Silke Avenhaus on tours and on five recordings of works by Schubert, Brahms,

Felix Mendelssohn Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic music, Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions inc ...

Antonín Dvořák Antonín Leopold Dvořák ( ; ; 8September 18411May 1904) was a Czech composer. He frequently employed rhythms and other aspects of the folk music of Moravia and his native Bohemia, following the Romantic-era nationalist example of his predec ...

, Josef Suk and French composers on the label CAvi-Music. As the artistic director of

Camerata Bern Located in Bern, Switzerland, the Camerata Bern was founded in 1963 as a conductorless, flexible chamber orchestra Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of Musical instrument, instruments—traditionall ...

, Weithaas was responsible for the recording of two Beethoven works for the ensemble's 50th anniversary, the String Quartet No. 11 and

Richard Tognetti Richard Leo Tognetti AO (born 4 August 1965) is a leading Australian musician recognised internationally as a violin soloist, ensemble player, leader, composer and arranger, conductor and artistic director. He is currently artistic direct ...

's arrangement of the

Kreutzer Sonata The Violin Sonata No. 9 in A major, Opus number, Op. 47, by Ludwig van Beethoven, is an 1803 sonata for piano and violin notable for its technical difficulty, unusual length (around 40 minutes), and emotional scope. It is commonly known as the '' ...

. Other collaborators in chamber music include the cellist , the clarinettist

Sharon Kam Sharon Kam (; born August 11, 1971) is an Israeli–German clarinetist who performs internationally as a soloist. She won the ARD International Music Competition in 1992. Since October 2022, she has also been Professor for Clarinet at the Hochsc ...

Christian Tetzlaff Christian Tetzlaff (born 29 April 1966) is a German violinist who has performed internationally, with a focus on chamber music. Biography Tetzlaff was born in Hamburg. His parents were amateur musicians and met in a church choir. He began playi ...

(violin) and

Tanja Tetzlaff Tanja Tetzlaff (born 1973) is a German cellist. She played first as an orchestra member, but then as a soloist, a founding member of the Tetzlaff Quartet, a string quartet led by her brother Christian Tetzlaff, and as a chamber musician. She has ...

(cello) and the pianist

Lars Vogt Lars Vogt (8 September 1970 – 5 September 2022) was a German classical pianist, conductor and academic teacher. Noted by ''The New York Times'' for his interpretations of Johannes Brahms, Brahms, Vogt performed as a soloist with major orchestr ...

. Weithaas is part of the core of artists appearing at the festival

Spannungen Spannungen ("Tensions" or "Voltages") is an annual summer festival for chamber music in Heimbach, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, founded by pianist Lars Vogt in 1998. It is subtitled Musik im Kraftwerk Heimbach (Music in the Heimbach power pla ...

– Musik im Kraftwerk Heimbach, at the electrical power station Kraftwerk Heimbach. Weithaas, Avenhaus and the horn player

Marie-Luise Neunecker Marie Luise Neunecker (born 17 July 1955) is a German horn player and professor at the Hochschule für Musik "Hanns Eisler". Professional career Neunecker was born in Erbes-Büdesheim. She studied musicology and German studies. She completed h ...

perform as a trio."Romantisches Feeling mit Hörnerklang"
y Eckhard Finckh, ''Nürtinger Zeitung'', 26 May 2017 (in German)

Concertos

Weithaas has a repertoire of classical concertos by

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...

, Beethoven and

Robert Schumann Robert Schumann (; ; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and music critic of the early Romantic music, Romantic era. He composed in all the main musical genres of the time, writing for solo piano, voice and piano, chamber ...

, contemporary works such as

Jörg Widmann Jörg Widmann (; born 19 June 1973) is a German composer, conductor and clarinetist. In 2023, Widmann was the third most performed living contemporary composer in the world. Formerly a clarinet and composition professor at the University of ...

's first concerto, and modern classics such as the concertos by

Dmitri Shostakovich Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich, group=n (9 August 1975) was a Soviet-era Russian composer and pianist who became internationally known after the premiere of his First Symphony in 1926 and thereafter was regarded as a major composer. Shostak ...

Sergei Prokofiev Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev; alternative transliterations of his name include ''Sergey'' or ''Serge'', and ''Prokofief'', ''Prokofieff'', or ''Prokofyev''. , group=n ( – 5 March 1953) was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor who l ...

, and

György Ligeti György Sándor Ligeti (; ; 28 May 1923 – 12 June 2006) was a Hungarian-Austrian composer of contemporary classical music. He has been described as "one of the most important avant-garde music, avant-garde composers in the latter half of the ...

, as well as rarely performed concertos such as those by

Erich Wolfgang Korngold Erich Wolfgang Korngold (; May 29, 1897 – November 29, 1957) was an Austrian composer and conductor, who fled Europe in the mid-1930s and later adopted US nationality. A child prodigy, he became one of the most important and influential comp ...

Othmar Schoeck Othmar Schoeck (1 September 1886 – 8 March 1957) was a Swiss List of Romantic-era composers, Romantic classical composer, opera composer, musician, and Conductor (music), conductor. He was known mainly for his considerable output of lied, art ...

and

Sofia Gubaidulina Sofia Asgatovna Gubaidulina (24 October 1931 – 13 March 2025) was a Soviet and Russian composer of Modernism (music), modernist Holy minimalism, sacred music. She was highly prolific, producing numerous Chamber music, chamber, Orchestra, orch ...

Fiona Maddocks Fiona Maddocks is a British music critic and author who specializes in classical music. Described as "one of the UK's leading writers and commentators on classical music", Maddocks has been chief music critic of ''The Observer'' since 2010. She ...

, a reviewer for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', wrote in 2015 that a recording by Weithaas of Bruch's

Violin Concerto A violin concerto is a concerto for solo violin (occasionally, two or more violins) and instrumental ensemble (customarily orchestra). Such works have been written since the Baroque period, when the solo concerto form was first developed, up thro ...

reminded her "with quiet and compelling eloquence, why it's a masterpiece".

References

External links

*
"Musiker/innen in ihren Lieblingskneipen, Folge 2"
, interview with Antje Weithaas by Hartmut Welscher, ''VAN'' magazine, 9 November 2016 (in German)

by

Zachary Woolfe Zachary Woolfe is an American music critic who specializes in classical music. Since 2022 he has been chief classical music critic for ''The New York Times''. Education and career As a teenager in the 1990s, Woolfe discovered the online oper ...

, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', 2 May 2011 (review of a recital in

Zankel Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between 56th and 57th Streets. Designed by architect William Burnet Tuthill and built by its n ...

with

) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Weithaas, Antje 1966 births Musicians from Brandenburg German women violinists German women classical violinists 20th-century German classical violinists 21st-century German classical violinists Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin alumni Academic staff of the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin Academic staff of the Berlin University of the Arts Living people