Teaching languages – English and German

"The Contzen is simply fantastic. She has such a natural access to the music. She is brilliant, crystal clear, big tone, a light hand. Heavenly beautiful." – Deutschlandfunk, 01.04.20

Mirijam Contzen is highly esteemed by the international musical world as a soloist, chamber musician, festival director and teacher. In 2016, she was appointed professor of violin at Berlin University of the Arts. Of particular concern to her is the fostering of exceptional young talent on the violin, the commitment to training music teachers, and the interest in learning processes in society.

Mirijam Contzen has performed with leading orchestras across the globe, including Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Frankfurt Radio Symphony, the German Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra, Israel Chamber Orchestra, the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Sydney Symphony Orchestra.

Conductors with whom she has worked include Iván Fischer, Gianandrea Noseda, Reinhard Goebel, Vladimir Fedosejev, Leif Segerstam, Lothar Zagrosek, Raphael Frühbeck de Burgos, Christopher Hogwood, Eliahu Inbal, Tomas Netopil, Michael Sanderling, Mario Venzago and Gabriel Feltz. Her passion for chamber music has led to collaborations with highly renowned musicians such as Emmanuel Ax, Joshua Bell, Misha Maisky, Clemens Hagen, Herbert Schuch, Bernd Glemser, Tobias Bredohl and Giovanni Guzzo.

In January 2020 Sony Classical released the two violin concertos of Franz Clement with the WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne under the direction of Reinhard Goebel, with whom Mirijam Contzen has worked intensively over many years. The second violin concerto is a world premiere recording. Franz Clement was the dedicatee of Beethoven’s violin concerto, which itself was composed in response to Clement’s first violin concerto. This album was awarded with the “Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik” as best recording (02/2020) as well as with the OPUS Klassik.

In the 21/22 season, as part of the "New Mozarts" series for Sony Classical, her new album of the violin concerto in E flat major KV 365, which was attributed to Mozart will be released. This is the first recording of this piece since 1965. Partners are the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg conducted by Reinhard Goebel. Mirijam Contzen will also work with the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, the Solistes Europeéns Luxembourg, the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, the Ensemble Resonanz, the Georgian Chamber Orchestra Ingolstadt and the Staatskapelle Halle.

From the outset of her performing career, Mirijam Contzen has been a staunch advocate of unknown repertoire. In this vein, she recorded the violin concerto “Et derrière toi marchent les étoiles..”by Nicolas Bolens with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande. For her début CD, which was awarded the Echo Preis in 2001, she chose seldom played works by Hubay, Ferrara and Geszler. Her CD recording with pianist Tobias Bredohl juxtaposes works by the composer Stefan Heucke with sonatas by Hindemith.