Viktoria Elisabeth Kaunzner

Viktoria Elisabeth Kaunzner is a “violin soloist, composer and producer of the highest calibre” performing internationally, according to legendary Franco-Israeli violinist and intellectual Ivry Gitlis, “a violinist with spirit, her compositions are magnificent” (The Strad London) – “world class” (Class). As an enthusiastic intermediary between West and East Asian music, “she makes her passage between cultures a theme” (Neue Musikzeitung). Her sound is “like liquid gold” (Augsburger Allgemeine Zeitung), “her violin playing is brilliant, her musical capacity enormous” (Süddeutsche Zeitung). As a Stradivari Artist, she also devotes herself to the repertoire for solo violin with orchestra and to the finest chamber music. She performs in venues such as the Salle Pleyel in Paris, the Seoul Arts Center, the Berlin and Munich Philharmonic Orchestras, the Teatro della Scala in Milan, the LAC in Lugano and many other prestigious venues. To date, she has performed as violin soloist and composer in 22 countries on five continents. She has given concerts for Queen Nur of Jordan and for the President of the Federal Republic of Germany at Bellevue Palace in Berlin. In a TV detective film, she demonstrated her versatility as a Paganini virtuoso.

From 2010 to 2018, she was the youngest professor at the German School of Music Weimar at Kangnam University in South Korea. Since then, she has been teaching young students online and analogically at the Victory Academy Berlin for musical excellence®.

She receives invitations from renowned faculties in Vienna, the Juilliard School in New York, the Hochschule der Künste in Zurich and the Barenboim-Said Fundaciòn. According to the specialist magazine “Das Orchester”, her music is an extension of the music of Ysaÿe and Paganini. American Record Guide ranks her recordings in the top 3 and writes: “Like many composers who also play as performers, she has a deeper vision of music than others”.

The Strad Magazine London published her interpretation of Beethoven’s violin concerto as a concert-reading in three languages, including the Beatles’ improvisation on “Let it be”. At the age of 17, she made her solo debut at Munich’s Prinzregententheater. At the same time, Lord Yehudi Menuhin described her violin playing as “brilliant”. In 2021 – the year of her 30th anniversary on stage – she performed the premiere of Violeta Dinescu’s violin concerto “Roman Fleuve”, dedicated to her, in Valencia.

Viktoria is the founder and artistic director of UKOREVV – Viktoria & Virtuosi, an ensemble of 30 outstanding young musicians. Commissions for compositions are combined with standard repertoire and staged synesthetically. In 2022, “Viktoria & Virtuosi” toured Germany’s leading concert halls with the “EurAsian Flow” concert format, including the Berlin Philharmonic, Munich’s Herkulessaal, Hamburg’s Laeiszhalle and Dresden’s Kulturpalast. As part of a concert marathon, she performed two violin concertos by female composers in one evening, as well as her own works, and presented the entire program. She received three major awards for this concert format, gained international media coverage and performed it in 2023/2024 in Sydney, Seoul, New York and Zurich, including as part of “Rhapsody in School”.

She receives composition commissions from international festivals and has composed music for a South Korean airline. Her work includes some 50 pieces for solo instruments, chamber music, musical theater and orchestral music. She also composes personal musical portraits which are available worldwide from Furore Verlag. She studied with renowned violin and composition teachers Zakhar Bron at the HfMT Köln, Krzysztof Meyer, the HfM “Hanns Eisler” Berlin with Stephan Picard, at the CNSMD Paris and with Salvatore Sciarrino (Mozarteum). She has received major national and international awards as a violin virtuoso and composer, including a quadruple nomination for Germany’s top classical music prize, the Opus Klassik. She is a regular guest on radio and television, and has her own Youtube channel.

She has played on the ex-Midori/David Guarneri del Gesù violin – it was on this violin that Mendelssohn’s violin concerto was premiered in Leipzig. The “Saiga Antelope” CD with Viktoria & Virtuosi is scheduled for release in 2024/25. She is currently working on a violin concerto for a private sponsor. Viktoria supports the Ashram Ghandi School in India/Jesuit mission.