Viktoria Elisabeth Kaunzner

Viktoria Elisabeth Kaunzner is a “violinist, composer and director at the highest level” who performs worldwide, says the legendary violinist and intellectual Ivry Gitlis, “with esprit, her compositions are beautiful” (The Strad London), “brillant” remarked once Lord Menuhin about the youngster. She is an enthusiastic mediator between Western and East Asian music and “makes her walk between cultures an issue” (Neue Musikzeitung). She devotes herself just as seriously to the repertoire for violin solo with orchestra, at the same time to the finest chamber music in venues such as Salle Pleyel Paris, Seoul Arts Center, Philharmonics of Berlin, Munich, Teatro de la Scala, LAC Lugano and many others. She has performed in 22 countries on four continents. The Strad published her interpretation of the Beethoven violin concerto as a concert lecture in three languages including her Beatles improvisation on “Let it be” as an encore.

In 2022 she received three important scholarships by the German Federal Cultural Ministry, the Korean Government and an Environmental Foundation in Bavaria – in total 165.000 Euros.
Thanks to this support concert tour “EurAsian Flow” was performed with UKOREVV - “Universal Korean Organic Ensemble - Viktoria & Virtuosi”. This exclusive group of 30 musicians and artists from 15 nations played compositions by Mozart, her own works “Jasmine Rice”, “Silk Road”, “Saiga Antelope” including a documentary film and a commissioned piece by renowned Usbek-Australian composer Elena Kats Chernin. Violeta Dinescu dedicated her violin concerto “Roman Fleuve” to the Stradivari artist, which was also premiered - next to Tango violin concerto by Argentine composer Claudia Montero with Viktoria as soloist and artistic director of the whole evening. In 2023 she will perform “Roman Fleuve” with the Moldavian State Orchestra in Cisinau. Additionally she appears in Australian ABC Classics Duet show together with Tamara Anna Cislowska (piano).

From 2010–2018 she was the youngest professor at the German School of Music Weimar, Kangnam University in South Korea, the branch of the Liszt School of Music Weimar, Germany. Since then she has been teaching online and analogue at the Victory Academy Berlin for musical excellence® and has received invitations from faculties, e.g. MDW Vienna, the Juilliard School or the Barenboim-Said Fundaciòn. She has worked as a visiting professor e.g. at the Conservatorio Superior de Valencia, the Zurich University of the Arts, or the Talent Summer Masters in Brescia/ Italy, or Yonsei University Seoul.

In a famous ARD TV crime thriller, she showed her enormous versatility as a Paganini virtuoso. American Record Guide counts her recording of Eugène Ysaÿe's solo sonatas among the top 3 in an international comparison and writes: “Like many composers who also make music as interpreters, she has a deeper insight into the music than others”. In 2021 her work “Coffee Mask” for violin and flute, published by Furore, was part of an international music video duo competition. She has received composition commissions e.g from the Pyramidale Festival Berlin, Ensemble Phase Seoul, Korea Strings, Maison Hélène de Beauvoir, Liebermann Society, T'Way Airlines and many others. According to the specialist magazine “Das Orchester”, her music is an extension of the music of Ysaÿe and Paganini.

She studied with the renowned Professor Zakhar Bron at the HfMT Cologne, Salvatore Sciarrino, the HfM “Hanns Eisler” Berlin and at the CNSMD Paris. She is a prizewinner within the World Federation of International Music Competitions (Geneva). Her three CDs (Wild Bird // Ja(zz)smine Rice-Violin Mysteries – Les Furies) were each nominated for an Echo Classic Prize. Her fourth CD “EurAsian Gold” featuring music by Medtner and her own work for EurAsian Ensemble, performed on the Ex-Midori/David Guarneri del Gesù violin achieved highest international praise.

SWR 2 published a documentary entitled “Soloists and their luthiers”, in which Hilary Hahn, Daniel Müller-Schott and Viktoria talk about the search for the perfect sound. In 2022 she moderated the one hour radio show “Klassik, Pop, et cetera” in prestigious Deutschlandfunk. Various participations in the Darmstadt Summer Courses for New Music document Viktoria's deep insight into the New Music scene. She is a member of the “New Bundlers of David”. Viktoria is involved, e.g. for Oceancare or supports violin kids at the Ashram Ghandi School in Kalimpong/ India. Pirastro is her sponsor.