Kolja Blacher (born 1963) is a German violin player. He plays the 1730 "Tritton" Stradivarius.Short biography, Deutschlandfunk, 6 November 2009
Aged 15, Blacher won the Jugend musiziert competition and studied violin with Dorothy DeLay at Juilliard in New York City. He then continued his studies with Sándor Végh. He was first concertmaster of the Berlin Philharmonic under Claudio Abbado from 1993 to 1999, and later at the Lucerne Festival Orchestra."Members of the orchestra" , Lucerne Festival
Blacher performed as a soloist with orchestras such as Berlin Philharmonic, Munich Philharmonic, NDR Symphony Orchestra, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Orchestra di Santa Cecilia and Baltimore Symphony Orchestra."Markus Stenz Makes His Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Debut Leading Beethoven's Symphony No. 3, Eroica – Kolja Blacher makes BSO debut with Schumann's Violin Concerto", Baltimore Symphony Orchestra press release, 20 September 2012 He has worked with conductors including Kirill Petrenko, Vladimir Jurowski, Dmitri Kitayenko, Mariss Jansons, Matthias Pintscher,"German masters mix virtuosity and wit, with a touch of melancholy" by Eamonn Kelly, The Australian, 19 March 2012 Markus Stenz.
Kolja Blacher was born in Berlin, the son of the composer Boris Blacher and ; his sister is the actress Tatjana Blacher.
Discography Blacher has an extensive discography which includes:
Bach: Violin Concertos; 2000; Naxos
Shostakovich, Weinberg: Violin Sonatas; 2007; Haenssler
Stravinsky: L'Histoire du soldat; 2010; Phil.Harmonie
Bach: Partitas for Violin Nos. 2 & 3; 2010; Phil.Harmonie
Brahms: Trio für Klavier, Violine und Horn; Klavierquartett Nr. 2; 2010
Edward Elgar: Klavierquintett; Johannes Brahms: Streichquartett Op. 67; 2010
Kolja Blacher plays Robert Schumann; 2011; Phil.Harmonie
Schnittke & Prokofiev; 2011; Phil.Harmonie
Eichberg / Beethoven; 2012; Phil.Harmonie
Mieczyslaw Weinberg: Piano Trio; Violin Sonatina; Double Bass Sonata; 2014; Cpo / CPO
Chopin: Cello Sonata; Piano Trio; 2014; Haenssler / Hänssler Classic
Shostakovich: Symphony No. 15; Suite for Variety Orchestra; 2015; Phil.Harmonie
Schönberg: Pelleas und Melisande; Concerto for Violin and Orchestra; 2015; Oehms Classics
Carl Nielsen: Violinkonzert; 2016; Acousence Classics
Blacher; 2016; Phil.Harmonie
Bernstein, Haydn; 2017; Coviello Classics
References
External links
"Melbourne Symphony Orchestra review: Kolja Blacher plays it straight" by Clive O'Connell, The Sydney Morning Herald, 27 November 2015