LORENZ KARLS

Lorenz Karls was born in Vienna into an Austrian Swedish family. He began playing the violin at age 4 and is currently a student at the Mozarteum Music University in Salzburg.To highlight some of his soloist appearances in the last seasons, should be mentioned his appearance at the Mozartwoche Salzburg in the Great Hall of the Mozarteum Foundation followed by concerts with Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Lithuanian National Philharmonic Orchestra, Armenian State Symphony Orchestra, WDR Funkhausorchester, Camerata Bern, Odense Symfonieorkester, Kremerata Baltica, Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra and Symphony Orchestra of Milan.

Lorenz has won numerous prizes at national and international competitions, among them seven top prizes from member competitions of “World Federation of Music Competitions” including both Mozart Competitions in Salzburg,, Austria and Zhuhai, China. Lorenz plays the G.B Guadagnini “ex-Bachmann” violin kindly loaned to him by the Stephan and Viktoria Schmidheiny Foundation, Switzerland.

Was there a specific moment or experience that made you realize you wanted to become a musician?

I had collected great memories of childhood concert experiences and yearly summer workshops. I was also always good at violin and received a lot of praise for my playing, which of course made things even more enjoyable and positive! There were always challenges and goals to achieve, so many exciting pieces to get to know...I never got bored!

When you perform, what do you hope to communicate or make the audience feel?

I feel at ease comparing the work of a musician with that of a storyteller, except for the fact that we are trying to tell the story in the spirit of the composer.

If you had to present yourself by playing a single piece from the entire repertoire, which one would you choose, and why?

I would choose Brahms' Violin Concerto because it is a true masterpiece, a giant on the Olympus of violin literature! It's such a multifaceted work, a reflection of Brahms' rich personality, full of humanity and a wonder of creation!