Artistic brilliance and innovative programming are the trademarks with which Nils Mönkemeyer has rapidly made his name as one of the most internationally successful violists, and dramatically raised the profile of his instrument.
Under his exclusive contract with Sony Classical, Mönkemeyer has released numerous CDs over the past years, all of which have won critical acclaim and prestigious awards. His programmes run the gamut from rediscoveries and first recordings of original 18th-century viola literature, to contemporary repertoire and arrangements of his own. The two most recently released CDs are recordings of Walton, Bruch and Pärt with the Bamberg Symphony under the direction of Markus Poschner, and the chamber music album “Baroque”, in which Nils Mönkemeyer unveils a fascinating panorama of Bach and contemporaneous French music.
Nils Mönkemeyer works together with conductors such as Andrej Boreyko, Sylvain Cambreling, Elias Grandy, Christopher Hogwood, Cornelius Meister, Mark Minkowski, Kent Nagano, Michael Sanderling, Clemens Schuldt, Karl-Heinz Steffens, Markus Stenz, Mario Venzago and Simone Young, performing as a soloist with ensembles including Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Les Musiciens du Louvre, Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Bern Symphony Orchestra, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Dresden Philharmonic, Hamburg Philharmonic, Frankfurter Opern- und Museumsorchester, MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra, NDR Radiophilharmonie, Weimar Staatskapelle, Dusseldorf Symphony Orchestra, Lausanne Chamber Orchestra and Berliner Barock Solisten.
A particular focus of the 2019/2020 season is contemporary music. Mönkemeyer will give the Italian premiere of Pulitzer prizewinner Jennifer Higdon’s viola concerto in Milan and Turin, and with the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra he will give the first performance of the viola concerto by Isabel Mundry, which is dedicated to him. As ever, he will perform in Europe‘s greatest concert halls, including Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Brussel Bozar, Zurich Tonhalle, Bilbao, Bologna, Pistoia, the Pierre Boulez Saal and Konzerthaus in Berlin, the Elbphilharmonie, the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, Munich Prinzregententheater, and also at numerous festivals, including the Mito Festival, the Schubertiade, Rheingau Musik Festival and MDR Musiksommer. Furthermore, he will guest with Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Orquesta Sinfonica de Bilbao, Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia, Orchestra del Teatro Petruzzelli Bari, and the Bavarian Radio Chamber Orchestra. Other projects worthy of mention are a tour with Berliner Barock Solisten and Julia Fischer with Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante, his trio with Sabine Meyer and William Youn, and a tour with the Julia Fischer Quartet.
Mönkemeyer has been a professor at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Munich since 2011 – the same institution at which he himself studied with Hariolf Schlichtig. Previous tenures include a two-year professorship at the Carl Maria von Weber University of Music in Dresden, and an assistant professorship at the Reina Sofia College of Music in Madrid.
Nils Mönkemeyer plays a viola made by Philipp Augustin.
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