Judith Stapf (born 31 May 1997) is a German classical

violinist The following lists of violinists are available: * List of classical violinists * List of contemporary classical violinists * List of jazz violinists * List of popular music violinists * List of Indian violinists * List of Persian violinists * Li ...

Biography

Born in

Rheinbach Rheinbach () is a town in the Rhein-Sieg-Kreis district ( Landkreis), in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It belongs to the administrative district (Regierungsbezirk) of Cologne. Geography Situated south-west of Bonn and south of Cologne, Rhein ...

Nordrhein-Westfalen North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

, Stapf received violin lessons at the age of three. At a children's concert in the Frankfurter

Alte Oper Alte Oper (Old Opera) is a concert hall in Frankfurt am Main, Hesse, Germany. It is located in the inner city, Innenstadt, within the banking district Bankenviertel. Today's Alte Oper was built in 1880 as the city's opera house, which was destr ...

she had her first concert appearance at the age of eight. She had her first appearances as a soloist at the age of ten in the Cologne

Basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica (Greek Basiliké) was a large public building with multiple functions that was typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek Eas ...

St. Maria im Kapitol and in the

Kölner Philharmonie The Kölner Philharmonie is a symphonic concert hall located in Cologne, Germany. It is part of the building ensemble of the Museum Ludwig and was opened in 1986. The Kölner Philharmonie is located close to the Cologne Cathedral and the Köln ...

, afterwards also at the

Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival The Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival (SHMF) is a classical music festival held each summer throughout the state of Schleswig-Holstein in Northern Germany. History The festival was founded in 1986 by German concert pianist and conductor Justus Fr ...

and the . After having been taught privately or as part of international

master class ''Master Class'' is a 1995 play by American playwright Terrence McNally, presented as a fictional master class by opera singer Maria Callas near the end of her life, in the 1970s. The play features incidental vocal music by Giuseppe Verdi, Giac ...

es until 2008, she attended the

Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln The Cologne University of Music () is a public university of music and dance located in Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Established in 1850 as the Conservatorium der Musik in Coeln, it is one of the largest music academies in Europe, w ...

from 2008 as a participant of the Pre-College Cologne. She regularly studied at this university from 2013 to 2018. In spring 2014 the

Westdeutscher Rundfunk (; "West German Broadcasting Cologne"), shortened to WDR (), is a German public broadcasting, public-broadcasting institution based in the States of Germany, Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia with its main office in Cologne. WDR is a const ...

nominated her as a German participant in the Eurovision Young Musicians 2014 competition. She performed there in the finale

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 ...

's Burleske aus op. 77 with the

WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln The WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne (German: WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln) is a German radio orchestra based in Cologne, where the orchestra performs at two main concert halls: the WDR Funkhaus Wallrafplatz and the Kölner Philharmonie. History ...

. In 2016 she appeared as a guest in the concert series "Junge Elite" at the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. From 2016 to 2018 she belonged to the first generation of students at the newly founded

Barenboim–Said Akademie The Barenboim–Said Akademie (, , ) is an academy located in Berlin, Germany, offering bachelor's degrees and Artist Diploma certificates in music; it opened on 8 December 2016. It was co-founded by the conductor and pianist Daniel Barenb ...

in Berlin. Since the winter semester 2018/2019 she has been studying in the Master's programme at the

Universität der Künste Berlin 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 ...

. Stapf plays a violin by

Andrea Guarneri Andrea Guarneri (1626, in Casalbuttano; 1698, in Cremona) was an Italian luthier, musician and founder of the Casa Guarneri. He is the most important student of Nicola Amati and grandfather of one of the best luthiers, Bartolomeo Giuseppe Guar ...

Judith Stapf and Jerzy Gross

At the age of ten Stapf came across the title melody of Spielberg's film

Schindler's List ''Schindler's List'' is a 1993 American epic historical drama film directed and produced by Steven Spielberg and written by Steven Zaillian. It is based on the historical novel '' Schindler's Ark'' (1982) by Thomas Keneally. The film follows ...

, a violin piece interpreted by

Itzhak Perlman Itzhak Perlman (; born August 31, 1945) is an Israeli-American violinist. He has performed worldwide and throughout the United States, in venues that have included a state dinner for Elizabeth II at the White House in 2007, and at the First ina ...

by the composer

John Williams John Towner Williams (born February 8, 1932)Nylund, Rob (November 15, 2022)Classic Connection review, ''WBOI'' ("For the second time this year, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic honored American composer, conductor, and arranger John Williams, who w ...

. Out of interest for the background of the play she made contact with the

Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

-survivor in 2008. The former violinist belonged to the so-called "

Schindler Schindler is a German surname that is derived from the German word "schindel", which means " shingle". This suggests that the original bearers of the name were in the roofing business. Variations and alternate spellings of the name include: Shindl ...

's juden", who had worked for the entrepreneur Oskar Schindler and were saved from murder in the

extermination camp Nazi Germany used six extermination camps (), also called death camps (), or killing centers (), in Central Europe, primarily in occupied Poland, during World War II to systematically murder over 2.7 million peoplemostly Jewsin the Holocau ...

. The exchange of several years between Stapf and Gross led to the book ''Spiel mir das Lied vom Leben - Judith und der Junge von Schindlers Liste'' by Angela Krumpen in 2011. For the

Martin Buchholz documented a common journey to Poland to stations of Gross's suffering. Since 19 November 2015, an Internet website has been in existence that focuses on the encounter between Judith Stapf and Jerzy Gross. In January 2018 she played "Nigun" by

Ernest Bloch Ernest Bloch (; ; July 24, 1880 – July 15, 1959) was a Swiss-born American composer. Bloch was a preeminent artist in his day, and left a lasting legacy. He is recognized as one of the greatest Swiss composers in history. Several of his most no ...

in the German Bundestag in the commemoration hour for the victims of National Socialism.

Awards

* 1st Federal Prize at

Jugend musiziert ''Jugend musiziert'' is a music competition for children and adolescents in Germany on regional, federal and national level. ''Jugend musiziert'' in Germany In Germany, the nationwide competition refers to young adults up to 20 years and for t ...

in 2010 and 2013 * Fifth prize at the VII. International Rotary Children Music Competition in Moscow 2009 * Premier Prix at the 20e Concours International Flame in Paris, 2009 * 1st prize at the International Max Bruch Competition, 2011 * 1st Prize Mary Smart Competition of the Summit Music Festival New York City, USA, 2012 * 2nd Prize Ferdinand-Trimborn Competition, 2012 * Beethoven Bonnensis Award, Bonn, 2012 * Scholarship of the

Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben The Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben is a foundation whose purpose is the promotion of musical excellence in Germany. The organisation was founded in 1962 by Hans Sikorski and Wolfgang Essen and is based in Hamburg. The patron of the Foundation is Pr ...

, 2013 * Scholarship of the Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes, 2015 * Young Musician Award of the State of NRW in the category Music, 2015 * Scholarship of the Werner Richard - Dr. Carl Dörken Foundation, 2017 and 2019

References

External links

Official website

Auftritt beim Eurovision Young Musicians 2014
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stapf, Judith German classical violinists German women violinists 21st-century classical violinists 1997 births Living people People from Rheinbach Women classical violinists