about me

Hi! I am Viola.

I am a violist and baroque violist,

active primarily as an orchestral, ensemble, and chamber musician.

I feel at home in traditional formats such as opera, ballet, symphony-, and chamber concerts,

but I’m equally drawn to more experimental settings that challenge or even break

the conventions of classical performance.

As an artist it is important to me to go beyond studying solely the standard repertoire

and the matter of a traditional education of a classical violist.

Thus, I am continuously looking for less known, original viola repertoire, especially by female composers,

and research and reflect on different interpretation practices and options.

Furthermore I seek to get to know and learn about different sound traditions, aesthetics,

and ways of expression - in conteporary music, projejcts where different genres meet and interact,

as well as in projects focussing on historically informed performance practice

and new forms of ensemble playing.

professional and artistic experience

I perform regularly with ensembles such as the Staatsorchester Stuttgart, the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and the Nationaltheater-Orchester Mannheim. Throughout the seasons 2023/24 and 2024/25 I was unter contract with the Staatsorchester Stuttgart, playing in their opera, ballet and symphonic productions. Other musical engagements have taken me to the Neue Philharmonie Westfalen (as section leader), the Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Mainz and the Spira Mirabilis Project, for example.

As an active baroque violist, I have appeared as a guest with ensembles such as Concentus Musicus Wien and Nuovo Barocco, playing at festivals such as the Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festival and the Internationale Barocktage Stift Melk.

Alongside my orchestral work, my regular involvement in ensemble playing shapes my artistic life. I am a member of the KALA - chamber and of the Asambura Ensemble – a collective of young musicians that explores interreligious and intercultural themes through sound and develops a genre-crossing musical language.

As a sought-after chamber musician, I have collaborated with a wide range of artists, including Karl Rauer, Robert Neumann, Stefan Gottfried, Rainer Johannsen, Dimitris Karakantas, Megan Kahts, and Tobias Moretti.

artistic education and training

-modern-

I am currently a student of Prof. Gerhard Marschner at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (mdw) and am studying for a diploma in viola performance.

I began my studies at the Hochschule für Musik (HfM) Freiburg in the class of Prof. Wolfram Christ before transferring to the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst (HfMDK) in Frankfurt, where I completed my Bachelor’s degree as a student of Anna Krimm. At the mdw in Vienna, I initially studied with Prof. Thomas Selditz for a year before joining Prof. Marschner’s class.

Throughout my studies, I have received valuable additional training from Prof. Volker Jacobsen, Raphael Sachs, Philipp Nickel, and Prof. Ulrich Schönauer. Furthermore I completed my studies by taking masterclasses with Garth Knox, Prof. Lars Anders Tomter, Prof. Roland Glassl, Prof. Hartmut Rohde, and Prof. Hariolf Schlichtig.

-baroque-

In addition to my work on classical, romantic and modern repertoire, I follow my interest in historically informed performance practice and baroque style playing. During my time at HfMDK Frankfurt, I studied baroque viola with Werner Saller (Freiburger Barockorchester) and attended a range of courses at the university’s Institute for Historically Informed Performance Practice.

I am continuing my education in this field at the Institute for Early Music of the mdw in Vienna, where I study baroque viola with Prof. Hiro Kurosaki and pursue the specialized profile in Historically Informed Interpretive Practice.

Additionally I participated in several masterclasses, including the Baden-Württemberg Ensemble Academy Freiburg (Freiburger Barockorchester), the Academia Mellicensis (Concentus Musicus Wien), and a masterclass with Prof. Eva Saladin.

-chamber music-

Together with Karl Rauer (clarinet) and Rang Lee (piano) I spent almost three years of my studies playing a lot of Trio music for clarinet, viola and piano. We had regular lessons with Prof. Hansjacob Staemmler and did additional coachings with Prof. Petra Müllejans, Jörg Widmann, and more.

awards

I have been the recipient of several scholarships, including a Deutschlandstipendium from the Oscar and Vera Ritter Foundation, another Deutschlandstipendium from the Musica Aeterna Foundation, and the Bayreuth Scholarship from the Richard Wagner Association Frankfurt (2022).

teaching

Aside from my artistic work I am a passionate teacher and pedagogue for violin, viola, chamber music and orchestral playing. During my Bachelor I not only completed the artistic, but also the pedagogic degree. In my work as a music pedagogue it is important to me to go beyond the teaching of technical skills and convey a holistic understanding of music, which enables my students to be musically active in a free and diverse way. My pedagogical work has led me to be a lecturer at the German-Skandinavian Music Week at Scheersberg (Germany), the BundesSchulMusikOrchester, the Marburg and Music youth orchestra, as examples.

personal background

I grew up in Bad Holzhausen, a village in North-Western Germany, in a musical family. My mother is a recorder player and music educator, my father a high school teacher, violinist, and violist. Both passed on to me not only their love of music, but also a deep interest in historically informed performance practice.

I began taking violin lessons at the age of seven, and not long after started playing in various youth orchestras, singing in youth choirs and spending many of my school holidays on orchestra camps, such as the Junge Hessische Philharmonie (IAM) and the German-Scandinavian Music Week at Scheersberg.
Music was a constant presence throughout my youth, but my musical education was never narrowly focused on a professional career. Instead, the focus was on the joy of making music and a love of learning. Therefore there was time and room for other interests as well, such as the swimming club, my social engagement at the youth center of our church and exchangeprograms abroad.

So after graduating from high school I decided to do a voluntary social service year (FSJ) at an orphanage in Bosnia. Subsequently, I studied Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies (major) and psychology (minor) at the Albert-Ludwigs-University in Freiburg, which I graduated from with a Bachelor of Arts.

At the beginning of my studies in Freiburg, I decided to start a new musical project as well: To make the transition from violin to viola. The following experiences in the student orchestras in Freiburg as well as my chamber music groups led me to realise, that I wanted to learn even more about music as well as refine my playing. Thus I started to take viola lessons with Manuel Druminski and Tanja Christ and less than a year later she passed the entrance exam at the Conservatory for Music (HfM) in Freiburg and became a student of Prof. Wolfram Christ.

photo taken by Thomas Michael Braun