Augustin hadelich paganini biography

Italian-German-American violinist (born 1984)

Musical artist

Augustin Hadelich (born April 4, 1984) is an Italian-German-American Grammy-winning classical violinist.

Early life and education

Augustin Hadelich was born in Cecina, Italy, to German parents. His two older brothers were already playing cello and piano when Hadelich (age 5) began his studies on the violin with his father, an agriculturalist and amateur cellist. In his early musical development, Hadelich progressed in his studies through irregular lessons and masterclasses from violinists traveling near the Hadelich farm in rural Tuscany, including Uto Ughi, Christoph Poppen, Igor Ozim, and Norbert Brainin. Hadelich enjoyed a blossoming career as a wunderkind violinist, pianist, and composer in Germany.

In 1999, Hadelich was injured in a fire on his family's farm in Italy, and was airlifted to be treated in Germany. After his recovery, Hadelich graduated summa cum laude from the Istituto Mascagni in Livorno, Italy, and successfully auditioned for admission to The Juilliard School.

From 2004 to 2007, Hadelich studied at Juilliard with Joel Smirnoff, graduating with a graduate diploma (2005) and an artist diploma (2007). After graduating, Hadelich continued to make his home in New York and became an American citizen in 2014.

Career

Shortly after winning first prize at the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis in 2006, Hadelich proved himself ready for the world stage through several short-notice substitutions with major orchestras. In 2008 he filled in for Julian Rachlin at the Hollywood Bowl, performing with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. In 2010, Hadelich made his New York Philharmonic debut at the Bravo! Vail Festival substituting for violinist Nikolaj Znaider.

In the following decade he returned to the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the New York Philhar

By Cristina Schreil

As if the life of a Grammy Award–winning, world-touring violinist didn’t sound appealing enough, Augustin Hadelich offers a pre-concert ritual I can get behind. Hadelich, born to German parents in Tuscany, is now a New Yorker and an American citizen. But, it seems there’s little question of what conjures feelings of home.

“I usually look for Italian food. I know exactly how it will feel when I eat it,” Hadelich says, offering that it’s both a practical quest for carb-loaded fortitude and a bit of a grounding ritual. “Amazingly once the pressure’s on and the adrenaline rushes through your body and you step onstage in front of thousands of people, it actually makes a huge difference what you ate and how you slept—all those little things,” he says. “And maybe part of it is superstition.”

We’re perched on an outdoor patio in the shadow of Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters. Hadelich, who’s girded himself against an early-October chill with an autumnal felt scarf, is in town to perform the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto with the San Francisco Symphony. We ponder the possibility that he might fulfill his starchy ceremony in the city’s quaint Italian North Beach neighborhood. It turns out Hadelich’s career has another key connection to Italy lately. His latest recording features Paganini’s 24 Caprices.

“I think on some level all of Paganini somehow reminds me of home,” Hadelich says. He recorded three caprices (Nos. 4, 9, and 21) for a 2009 album and also performed Paganini on a 2013 tango record with guitarist Pablo Sáinz Villegas. He says it was time to put forth his take on all of the caprices. His approach is much different from the first album: “Less technical and with greater fluidity and emphasis on character.” It’s clear how much he’s considered the spirit of each caprice. With a slight chuckle, he shares that the chromatic runs in Caprice No. 17 remind him of the legion of outdoor cats populating his childhood farm.

There, he began

Augustin Hadelich is one of the great violinists of our time. Known for his phenomenal technique, insightful and persuasive interpretations, and ravishing tone, he appears extensively on the world’s foremost concert stages. Hadelich has performed with all the major American orchestras as well as the Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic, and many other eminent ensembles.

During the 2024 summer festivals season, Hadelich appeared at the Hollywood Bowl with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Tanglewood Music Festival with the Boston Symphony, Bravo! Vail with the New York Philharmonic, Ravinia Festival with the Chicago Symphony, Aspen Music Festival in Colorado and the Orquesta Sinfónica de Minería in Mexico City.

Highlights of the 24/25 season include returns to the Berlin Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, Vienna Philharmonic, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and The Cleveland Orchestra. Hadelich will also perform with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Vienna Symphony, London Philharmonic, Sydney Symphony, New Zealand Symphony, Orquesta Nacional de España as well as the symphony orchestras of Baltimore, Dallas and Seattle. As artist-in-residence, he will perform with the Dresden Philharmonic throughout the season, and will tour with the RSB Radio Orchestra Berlin, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, as well as the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields. He will perform solo violin recitals in London, Barcelona, Gothenburg, Tallinn, and Abu Dhabi, as well as duo recitals with the pianist Francesco Piemontesi in Budapest, Dresden, Katowice, Rome, and Bologna. In the summer of 2025, he will perform extensively in Asia, including engagements with the Seoul Philharmonic, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Or

Augustin Hadelich received support from BBT between 2011 and 2017. For latest information go to www.kdschmid.de

Augustin Hadelich has firmly established himself as one of the great violinists of today. Showcasing a wide-ranging and adventurous repertoire, he is consistently cited for his phenomenal technique, soulful approach, and beauty of tone. He has performed with every major orchestra in North America, as well as an ever-growing number of orchestras around the world, including the Bavarian Radio Symphony, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Danish National Orchestra, Finnish Radio Symphony, Hong Kong Philharmonic, London Philharmonic, NHK Symphony (Tokyo), Norwegian Radio, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Seoul Philharmonic, and the Radio Orchestras of Frankfurt, Saarbrücken, Stuttgart and Cologne.

Augustin Hadelich is the winner of a 2016 Grammy Award for his recording of Dutilleux’s Violin Concerto with the Seattle Symphony and Ludovic Morlot. Other releases include Paganini’s 24 Caprices for Warner Classics, Tchaikovsky and Lalo Concertos with the London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO Live), Sibelius and Adès Concertos with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Hannu Lintu (AVIE), which was nominated for a Gramophone Award, and Mendelssohn and Bartók Concertos with the Norwegian Radio Orchestra and Miguel Harth-Bedoya (AVIE).

Augustin Hadelich’s career took off when he won the Gold Medal at the 2006 International Violin Competition of Indianapolis. Since then, he has garnered an impressive list of honors, including a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship in the UK (2011); the inaugural Warner Music Prize (2015); and Musical America’s “2018 Instrumentalist of the Year.”

Augustin Hadelich plays the 1723 Ex-Kiesewetter Stradivari violin, on loan from Clement and Karen Arrison through the Stradivari Society of Chicago.

Last updated: October 2018

The support that I received from the BBT this past year