Julian Rachlin

Julian Rachlin has already established himself as one of the most charismatic and exciting violinists of his generation. In recognition of his immense talent, he received one of the most prestigious awards for classical musicians, the coveted Accademia Musicale Chigiana International Prize.

Born in Lithuania in 1974, Julian immigrated to Austria, his adopted home, with his musician parents in 1978. He studied with the eminent pedagogue Boris Kuschnir at the Vienna Conservatory and took private lessons with Pinchas Zukerman. He gained international acclaim overnight in 1988 by winning the “Young Musician of the Year” Award at the Eurovision Competition held at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. This success led to Lorin Maazel’s invitation to debut at the Berlin Festival with the Orchestre National de France and to tour Europe and Japan with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. He then became the youngest soloist ever to play with the Vienna Philharmonic, making his debut under Riccardo Muti.

He has performed with, and regularly returns to, Vienna Philharmonic, the London Symphony, New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Pittsburgh Symphony, Staatskapelle Dresden, Gewandhaus Leipzig, Munich Philharmonic, Orchestra Philharmonica della Scala, Orchestre de Paris, Philharmonia Orchestra London, San Francisco Symphony, St. Petersburg Philharmonic and NHK Symphony. Among the top class conductors, Julian has performed under Vladimir Ashkenazy, Herbert Blomstedt, Myung-Whun Chung, Bernard Haitink, Mariss Jansons, James Levine, Lorin Maazel, Sir Neville Marriner, Zubin Mehta, Yehudi Menuhin, Sir Roger Norrington, Krzysztof Penderecki, André Previn, Mstislav Rostropovich, Michael Tilson Thomas, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Riccardo Muti and Wolfgang Sawallisch.

In 2000, he began to perform on the viola and now regularly includes the viola repertoire in his performances. Julian is a fervent chamber musician and performs regularly with his duo partner, Itamar Golan, as well as players such as Mischa Maisky, Martha Argerich, Yefim Bronfman, Gidon Kremer, Yuri Bashmet, Leif Ove Andsnes, Lang Lang, Janine Jansen and Maxim Vengerov to name a few. He frequently takes part in many European festivals including Salzburg, Verbier, Schleswig Holstein, the BBC Proms, Lucerne and Salzburg’s Mozartwoche. Following his successful performance at the Dubrovnik Festival in the summer of 2000, he was offered his own festival there, “Julian Rachlin and Friends”. This is now a regular annual festival and rapidly growing in international renown.

Rachlin’s recordings on Warner Classics include the Brahms Concerto and Mozart’s Violin Concerto No.3 with the Bayerischer Rundfunk and Mariss Jansons and a recital disc (Shostakovich and Beethoven) on violin and viola with Itamar Golan. His early recordings on the Sony Classical label include the Sibelius Violin Concerto and Sérénade with Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra under Maazel, the Saint-Saëns Concerto No. 3 and Wieniawski Concerto No. 2 with Israel Philharmonic Orchestra under Mehta, as well as the Prokofiev Concerto No. 1 and Tchaikovsky Concerto with Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra with Vladimir Fedoseyev.

Since September 1999, Mr. Rachlin has been on the faculty at the Vienna Conservatory. Julian Rachlin plays the 1741 “ex Carrodus” Guarnerius del Gesù violin, on loan to him courtesy of the Austrian National Bank.