Established in 2008 by renowned violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter, the Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation supports a select numbers of young, highly talented string players who receive scholarships through the foundation to study their craft at the highest artistic level. Their time as scholarship students includes mentorship and training with Mutter herself, as well as coaching, financial support and performance opportunities on world stages. Some of today’s most prominent artists, including violinists Sergey Khachatryan, Daniel Müller-Schott and Arabella Steinbacher, and bassist Roman Patkoló, received scholarships and support from the Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation.
In 2011, Mutter founded the Mutter Virtuosi, an ensemble of the foundation’s former and current scholarship students with whom she performs regular concerts with the dual purpose of introducing them to the life of a professional musician, while simultaneously introducing them to a broad audience as part of their career building.
Each student is selected personally by Mutter, who designs individual scholarship support to meet each recipient’s unique needs, such as the selection of a suitable teacher, the provision of instruments, establishing meetings with soloists and participation in their master classes or arranging auditions with conductors. Mutter firmly believes that “instead of setting fixed and inflexible rules, I am more concerned with giving every student what he or she needs.” This philsophy has served her program well, and her support of these early-career promising artists has proven invaluable to the recipients of the scholarships, who now total 24, with nine current students from the United States, Europe and Asia.
The foundation regularly commissions new music for the ensemble, ensuring that the young artists understand their responsibility to performing music written by today’s composers. To date, Mutter and the Virtuosi have given the world premiere of commissioned works by André Previn, Concerto for Violin, Contrabass and Orchestra, and Nonet for Two String Quartets and Double Bass; Wolfgang Rihm, Dyade; Sebastian Currier, Ringtone Variations; Krzysztof Penderecki, Double Concerto for Violin and Contrabass, and Unsuk Chin, Gran Cadenza for two violins.
Along with creating the Virtuosi in 2011, the foundation also created the Aida Stucki Award, which honors outstanding young professional string soloists who follow the strong tradition of Stucki’s and the European tradition of performance and education. The prize is named for the legendary Swiss violinist and teacher of Anne-Sophie Mutter, who chose to honor her because “Aida Stucki is my guiding star in every respect — an incomparable violinist, a noble human being and a fantastic woman.” The prize, which carries a cash value of 10,000 euros and is given at the foundation’s discretion, has been awarded to double bassist Roman Patkoló and cellist Daniel Müller-Schott.
Mutter and the Virtuosi toured together for the first time in 2011, to 11 European cities, followed in 2013 by a seven-city tour in Asia, and a U.S. and Canada tour in 2014, which included the ensemble’s debut at the legendary Carnegie Hall. They have toured the world together regularly over the past decade, including South America, and embark on their eighth tour in 2023 to Iceland, Canada, and the United States with a program of music by Vivaldi, Unsuk Chin and Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges.
October 2022
Please note: Biographies are based on information provided to the CSO by the artists or their representatives. More current information may be available on websites of the artists or their management.
