© Giorgia Bertazzi | Die Künstlerische Leitung des Violinwettbewerbs: Antje Weithaas und Oliver Wille
Artistic Directors of the competition: Antje Weithaas and Oliver Wille
Antje Weithaas and Oliver Wille are the Artistic Directors of the Joseph Joachim Violin Competition since 2019. Antje Weithaas was the first 1st prize winner of the competition in 1991 and is now one of the most internationally renowned violin virtuosos and a world-class violin teacher. Oliver Wille is a founding member of the prestigious Kuss Quartet, director of the Sommerliche Musiktage Hitzacker and professor of string chamber music at the Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media.
Biography Antje Weithaas
"Antje Weithaas realizes the required polyphony in Bach's sonatas with clarity and, above all, ravishingly light elegance: as a listener, you literally feel nothing of the technical hurdles, everything is brilliance. The interpreter dives like a long-distance swimmer into a clear mountain stream with a strong undertow, measuring the ice-cold water with powerful movements - and still takes the time for details." - Spiegel Online
Full of energy, Antje Weithaas infuses every detail of the musical text with her compelling musical intelligence and unparalleled technical mastery. Her charisma and stage presence are captivating without ever forcing herself in front of the work. In addition to the great concertos of Mozart, Beethoven and Schumann and new works such as Jörg Widmann's Violin Concerto, her wide-ranging concert repertoire also includes modern classics such as Shostakovich, Prokofiev and Gubaidulina as well as rarely performed violin concertos such as those by Hartmann and Schoeck.
As a soloist, Antje Weithaas has already worked with orchestras such as the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, the major German radio orchestras as well as top international orchestras such as the Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Philharmonia Orchestra, BBC Symphony and the leading orchestras of the Netherlands, Scandinavia and Asia. Her conducting partners have included artists such as Vladimir Ashkenazy, Dmitrij Kitajenko, Sir Neville Marriner, Marc Albrecht, Yakov Kreizberg, Sakari Oramo and Carlos Kalmar.
Antje Weithaas' 2023/24 season will kick off with concerts at Marie-Elisabeth Hecker and Martin Helmchen's new Fliessen Festival and at the Schubertiade. She will continue to perform as a duo with harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani; together they will appear in three concerts at the Wigmore Hall and at the Lammermuir Festival. Other highlights include concerts with Ensemble Resonanz, the Vorarlberg Symphony Orchestra, the Philharmonie Zuidnederland, the Camerata Bern and the Kammerakademie Potsdam. She will perform the world premiere of the new version of Manfred Trojahn's Violin Concerto with the Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Axel Kober. She will play her debut recital with Dénes Várjon in the Pierre Boulez Saal. In a trio with Marie-Elisabeth Hecker and Martin Helmchen, she will perform at the Oberstdorf Music Summer and the Schwetzingen SWR Festival, among others.
Her infectious enthusiasm also makes Antje Weithaas a popular conductor for play-conduct projects with international chamber orchestras. As artistic director of the Camerata Bern, she was responsible for the musical profile of the ensemble for almost ten years, with whom she continues to work regularly. From the podium of the concertmaster, she has even conducted large-scale works such as Beethoven's symphonies and released recordings of works by Tchaikovsky, Brahms, Mendelssohn and Beethoven. As artiste associé of the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris in the 2021/22 season, she has also inspired unreserved enthusiasm.
As a soloist, Antje Weithaas has already worked with orchestras such as the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, the major German radio orchestras as well as top international orchestras such as the Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Philharmonia Orchestra, BBC Symphony and the leading orchestras of the Netherlands, Scandinavia and Asia. Her conducting partners have included artists such as Vladimir Ashkenazy, Dmitrij Kitajenko, Sir Neville Marriner, Marc Albrecht, Yakov Kreizberg, Sakari Oramo and Carlos Kalmar.
Antje Weithaas' 2023/24 season will kick off with concerts at Marie-Elisabeth Hecker and Martin Helmchen's new Fliessen Festival and at the Schubertiade. She will continue to perform as a duo with harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani; together they will appear in three concerts at the Wigmore Hall and at the Lammermuir Festival. Other highlights include concerts with Ensemble Resonanz, the Vorarlberg Symphony Orchestra, the Philharmonie Zuidnederland, the Camerata Bern and the Kammerakademie Potsdam. She will perform the world premiere of the new version of Manfred Trojahn's Violin Concerto with the Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Axel Kober. She will play her debut recital with Dénes Várjon in the Pierre Boulez Saal. In a trio with Marie-Elisabeth Hecker and Martin Helmchen, she will perform at the Oberstdorf Music Summer and the Schwetzingen SWR Festival, among others.
Her infectious enthusiasm also makes Antje Weithaas a popular conductor for play-conduct projects with international chamber orchestras. As artistic director of the Camerata Bern, she was responsible for the musical profile of the ensemble for almost ten years, with whom she continues to work regularly. From the podium of the concertmaster, she has even conducted large-scale works such as Beethoven's symphonies and released recordings of works by Tchaikovsky, Brahms, Mendelssohn and Beethoven. As artiste associé of the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris in the 2021/22 season, she has also inspired unreserved enthusiasm.
Antje Weithaas has been Professor of Violin at the Hanns Eisler School of Music since 2004. Further information can be found on the Academy's website: www.hfm-berlin.de Antje Weithaas does not currently teach workshops or master classes and does not give private lessons before entrance examinations. However, interested students are cordially invited to listen to lessons in Berlin. For current information, please contact the Hanns Eisler School of Music.
In 2013, Antje Weithaas made a benchmark recording of the Beethoven and Berg violin concertos with the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra under Steven Sloane (CAvi-music). In 2016, her complete recording of Max Bruch's works for violin and orchestra with the NDR Radiophilharmonie under Hermann Bäumer was released in full for cpo. The CDs for CAvi with the complete recording of the solo sonatas and partitas by Johann Sebastian Bach and the solo sonatas by Eugène Ysaÿe as well as Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto and his 3rd String Quartet in an orchestral version with the Camerata Bern have also received enthusiastic reactions. Two CDs were released in 2019: a recording of Robert Schumann's Violin Concerto and Johannes Brahms' Double Concerto with the NDR Radiophilharmonie, cellist Maximilian Hornung and conductor Andrew Manze, as well as a recording of Khachaturian's Violin Concerto and Concerto Rhapsody with the Staatsorchester Rheinische Philharmonie and conductor Daniel Raiskin. In spring 2023, Vol. I of the planned complete recording of Ludwig van Beethoven's violin sonatas with Dénes Várjon as piano partner will be released by CAvi-music.
Antje Weithaas began playing the violin at the age of four and a half. She later studied at the Hanns Eisler Academy of Music in Berlin with Professor Werner Scholz. In 1987 she won the Kreisler Competition in Graz, in 1988 the Bach Competition in Leipzig and in 1991 the International Joseph Joachim Violin Competition in Hanover, which she recently took over as artistic director together with Oliver Wille. For several years she taught as a professor at the Berlin University of the Arts; in 2004 she moved to the Hanns Eisler Academy of Music. Since then, she has become a world-class violin teacher. Antje Weithaas plays an instrument made by Peter Greiner in 2001.
In 2013, Antje Weithaas made a benchmark recording of the Beethoven and Berg violin concertos with the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra under Steven Sloane (CAvi-music). In 2016, her complete recording of Max Bruch's works for violin and orchestra with the NDR Radiophilharmonie under Hermann Bäumer was released in full for cpo. The CDs for CAvi with the complete recording of the solo sonatas and partitas by Johann Sebastian Bach and the solo sonatas by Eugène Ysaÿe as well as Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto and his 3rd String Quartet in an orchestral version with the Camerata Bern have also received enthusiastic reactions. Two CDs were released in 2019: a recording of Robert Schumann's Violin Concerto and Johannes Brahms' Double Concerto with the NDR Radiophilharmonie, cellist Maximilian Hornung and conductor Andrew Manze, as well as a recording of Khachaturian's Violin Concerto and Concerto Rhapsody with the Staatsorchester Rheinische Philharmonie and conductor Daniel Raiskin. In spring 2023, Vol. I of the planned complete recording of Ludwig van Beethoven's violin sonatas with Dénes Várjon as piano partner will be released by CAvi-music.
Antje Weithaas began playing the violin at the age of four and a half. She later studied at the Hanns Eisler Academy of Music in Berlin with Professor Werner Scholz. In 1987 she won the Kreisler Competition in Graz, in 1988 the Bach Competition in Leipzig and in 1991 the International Joseph Joachim Violin Competition in Hanover, which she recently took over as artistic director together with Oliver Wille. For several years she taught as a professor at the Berlin University of the Arts; in 2004 she moved to the Hanns Eisler Academy of Music. Since then, she has become a world-class violin teacher. Antje Weithaas plays an instrument made by Peter Greiner in 2001.
Biography Oliver Wille
As Professor of Chamber Music at the University of Music in Hanover, where he supervises an internationally successful quartet class, Oliver Wille and the university's own institute are pioneers in the field of chamber music education with their creative and innovative projects. Many of the ensembles he has trained are now international prizewinners and can be heard on major stages around the world.
Together with Jana Kuss, the then 14-year-old was one of the founding members of the Kuss Quartet. The ensemble has been playing on all the major concert stages and festivals worldwide since 2002 and has several award-winning CD recordings to its name. Most recently, the four recorded the Beethoven quartet cycle on Paganini's Stradivaris live in Tokyo's Suntory Hall. The Kuss Quartet paved the way for new concert formats and concept programs, for example with the Kuss Plus series in Berlin techno clubs. For years, they have regularly commissioned renowned composers.
Together with Jana Kuss, the then 14-year-old was one of the founding members of the Kuss Quartet. The ensemble has been playing on all the major concert stages and festivals worldwide since 2002 and has several award-winning CD recordings to its name. Most recently, the four recorded the Beethoven quartet cycle on Paganini's Stradivaris live in Tokyo's Suntory Hall. The Kuss Quartet paved the way for new concert formats and concept programs, for example with the Kuss Plus series in Berlin techno clubs. For years, they have regularly commissioned renowned composers.
In addition to a guest professorship for violin and string quartet at the Royal Birmingham Conservatory, the Berlin-born musician is the artistic director of the "Sommerliche Musiktage" Hitzacker and chairman of the project advisory board and the overall jury of the German Music Competition. Oliver Wille is a popular music mediator, regularly hosts discussion concerts, invents concert formats, leads workshops and was artistic director of the chamber music series in Hanover from 2011 to 2020.
He is dedicated to the challenge of leading the renowned Joseph Joachim Violin Competition into the future in his adopted home town together with Antje Weithaas. With many ideas and above all the aim of enabling the next generation of artists to find their way onto the concert stage through new creative networks and collaborations.
He is dedicated to the challenge of leading the renowned Joseph Joachim Violin Competition into the future in his adopted home town together with Antje Weithaas. With many ideas and above all the aim of enabling the next generation of artists to find their way onto the concert stage through new creative networks and collaborations.
Former Artistic Director
Prof. Krzysztof Wegrzyn founded the Joseph Joachim Violin Competition in 1991 and took over as Artistic Director until 2019, for a total of ten competition editions. He remains closely associated with the competition as Honorary President.