Kolja Blacher

Kolja Blacher (born 1963) is a German violin player. He plays the 1730 "Tritton" Stradivarius.

Aged 15, Blacher won the Jugend musiziert competition and studied violin with Dorothy DeLay at Juilliard in New York City. He then continued his studies with Sándor Végh. He was first concertmaster of the Berlin Philharmonic under Claudio Abbado from 1993 to 1999, and later at the Lucerne Festival Orchestra.

Blacher performed as a soloist with orchestras such as Berlin Philharmonic, Munich Philharmonic, NDR Symphony Orchestra, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Orchestra di Santa Cecilia He has worked with conductors including Kirill Petrenko, Vladimir Jurowski, Dmitri Kitayenko, Mariss Jansons, Markus Stenz.

Kolja Blacher was born in Berlin, the son of the composer Boris Blacher and ; his sister is the actress Tatjana Blacher.

Discography Blacher has an extensive discography which includes:

Bach: Violin Concertos; 2000; Naxos

Shostakovich, Weinberg: Violin Sonatas; 2007; Haenssler

Stravinsky: L'Histoire du soldat; 2010; Phil.Harmonie

Bach: Partitas for Violin Nos. 2 & 3; 2010; Phil.Harmonie

Brahms: Trio für Klavier, Violine und Horn; Klavierquartett Nr. 2; 2010

Edward Elgar: Klavierquintett; Johannes Brahms: Streichquartett Op. 67; 2010

Kolja Blacher plays Robert Schumann; 2011; Phil.Harmonie

Schnittke & Prokofiev; 2011; Phil.Harmonie

Eichberg / Beethoven; 2012; Phil.Harmonie

Mieczyslaw Weinberg: Piano Trio; Violin Sonatina; Double Bass Sonata; 2014; Cpo / CPO

Chopin: Cello Sonata; Piano Trio; 2014; Haenssler / Hänssler Classic

Shostakovich: Symphony No. 15; Suite for Variety Orchestra; 2015; Phil.Harmonie

Schönberg: Pelleas und Melisande; Concerto for Violin and Orchestra; 2015; Oehms Classics

Carl Nielsen: Violinkonzert; 2016; Acousence Classics

Blacher; 2016; Phil.Harmonie

Bernstein, Haydn; 2017; Coviello Classics