Isabelle Faust
German classical violinist

Isabelle Faust

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German classical violinist
Gender:
Female
Places:
Germany
Is:
MusicianViolinist
Work field:
Music
Birth:
(Esslingen am Neckar)
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Biography

Introduction

Isabelle Faust (born 1972 in Esslingen, Germany) is a violinist who has won multiple awards.

Biography

Faust received her first violin lessons at the age of five years. She trained with Christoph Poppen and Dénes Zsigmondy. After winning the Paganini Competition she lived for nine years in France, where she met her husband. In 2004 she was appointed professor of violin at the Berlin University of the Arts. She lives in Berlin and is the mother of a teenage son. Since 1996, she has performed on the "Sleeping Beauty" Stradivarius violin of 1704, on loan from Landesbank Baden-Württemberg. She has also performed with Baroque-style violins and bows.

Faust has performed as guest soloist with most of the world's major orchestras. In addition to the recordings listed under "Awards and Prizes," she has recorded works of Antonín Dvořák, Robert Schumann, Franz Schubert, Johannes Brahms (including the Violin Concerto), Alban Berg, Bohuslav Martinů, André Jolivet and others. She is a proponent of new music and has given world premieres of works by, among others, Olivier Messiaen, Werner Egk, and Jörg Widmann.

Awards and Prizes

  • 1987: Leopold Mozart International Violin Competition, (Augsburg), First Prize
    Isabelle Faust during a CD presentation in Dussmann, Berlin.
  • 1990: Premio Quadrivio Competition (Rovigo, Italy), First Prize
  • 1993: Paganini Competition in Genoa, Italy, First Prize
  • 1994: Förderpreis des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen für junge Künstlerinnen und Künstler
  • 1997: Gramophone Award for "Young Artist of the Year" for her first CD, the solo violin sonata and the Violin Sonata No. 1 of Béla Bartók on Harmonia mundi
  • 2002: Cannes Classical Award for her recording for ECM of the Concerto Funèbre of Karl Amadeus Hartmann.
  • 2010: Diapason d'Or de l’Année for her recording of the Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin of Johann Sebastian Bach for Harmonia mundi
  • 2012: Gramophone Award for Best Chamber Recording for her recording of the Violin Sonatas of Ludwig van Beethoven with pianist Alexander Melnikov for Harmonia mundi
  • 2012: Echo Klassik Award for her recording of the Violin Sonatas of Ludwig van Beethoven with pianist Alexander Melnikov
  • 2012: Diapason d'Orfor her recording of the Violin Sonatas of Ludwig van Beethoven with pianist Alexander Melnikov