Since making her international debut at the age of 12-and a year later participating in the legendary joint concert of the Israel and Berlin Philharmonics, conducted by Zubin Mehta-Viviane Hagner has become known for her substantial and beautiful sound as well as her thoughtful interpretations. She has appeared with the world's great orchestras, including the Berlin Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Leipzig Gewandhaus, the Czech Philharmonic, the Munich Philharmonic and the Philharmonia, in partnership with conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Daniel Barenboim, Ricardo Chailly, Jiri Belohlávek, Pinchas Zukerman, Hugh Wolff, and Christoph Eschenbach. Recent concert highlights are appearances with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Markus Stenz, debut performances with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra led by Ludovic Morlot, a European tour with Myung-Whun Chung and the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra and a BBC Proms appearance with Semyon Bychkov and the WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln.
Ms. Hagner's 2010-2011 season features appearances with the Cincinnati and Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestras, the Orchestra Symphonique de Montréal and, in Japan, concerts with the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra. In addition, she performs with the Bamberg Symphony, Dresden Philharmonic, with whom she goes on tour, Monte Carlo Philharmonic, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic and the Zürich Tonhalle. She appears in recital at the Berlin Konzerthaus, the Palais des Beaux Arts Brussels, Wigmore Hall London, Salzburg Mozarteum and Tokyo's Suntory Hall.
Ms. Hagner's engagements have included many special collaborations: the Brahms Double Concerto with Yo-Yo Ma and Canada's National Arts Centre Orchestra, and Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante with Pinchas Zukerman and the Pittsburgh, Seattle and Dallas Symphony Orchestras. In June 2007, Ms. Hagner stepped in at the last minute to perform the Beethoven Violin Concerto with Riccardo Chailly and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra in Leipzig. Following the performance, she was immediately engaged to tour with them to the Salle Pleyel in Paris and the BBC Proms in London.
A committed chamber musician, Viviane Hagner has been a featured artist at renowned American and international festivals, such as Schleswig-Holstein, Salzburg Easter Festival, Marlboro, Ravinia, Santa Fe, and Mostly Mozart; and has appeared at Amsterdam's Concertgebouw, Barcelona's Palau de la Musica, Berlin Konzerthaus, Köln Philharmonie, London's Wigmore Hall and New York's 92nd Street Y series.
As well as bringing insight and virtuosity to the core concerto repertoire, Viviane Hagner is an ardent advocate of new, neglected and undiscovered music. Composers whose work she champions include Sofia Gubaidulina, Karl Amadeus Hartmann and Witold Lutoslawski. In 2002 she gave the world premiere of Unsuk Chin's Violin Concerto with the Deutsche Sinfonie-Orchester Berlin and Kent Nagano, later playing the work in the United States-an event that prompted The San Francisco Chronicle to rave her performance was "vibrant, warm-toned and jaw-droppingly precise [and] may well be unimprovable." After her 2006 premiere of Simon Holt's new Violin Concerto with the BBC Symphony Orchestra led by Jonathan Nott, The Sunday Times critic remarked she "caught the music's soul."
The Hyperion label has recorded her performances of the Vieuxtemps Violin Concerti 4 & 5 and the Canadian company Analekta has recently released her recording of Unsuk Chin's Violin Concerto with Kent Nagano and the Orchestra Symphonique de Montréal. Her first solo recording on the Altara label features works by Bartók, Hartmann and Bach.
Viviane Hagner plays the Sasserno Stradivarius built in 1717, generously loaned to her by the Nippon Music Foundation. Ms. Hagner was a 2000 winner of the Young Concert Artists International auditions and in 2004 was awarded the Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award.
Note: The reference to Ms. Hagner's Stradivarius must be included in all versions of her biography and cannot be altered in any way.
"Viviane Hagner's reading of the Andante [of Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto] was a picture of melting beauty, and in the fast outer movements she played with the kind of virtuosity that makes things sound easier than they are." The New York Times
"Her rich, burnished tone, crystalline articulation and subtle expression grab attention and leave a lasting impression...the violinist from Munich gave a spine-chilling recital, an almost hauntingly masterful display of technique and artistry." The Washington Post
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