Arabella Steinbacher
Few artists have ever burst onto the international scene with such immediate and overwhelming success as Arabella Steinbacher. Since her 2004 debut in Paris, she has been on a meteoric ascent, appearing at major concert venues in Europe, the U.S., and Asia and making critically acclaimed recordings. One of the reasons for her success is her choice to play rarely-heard works as well as the standards. A look at the variety in her sizable repertory can astonish string music enthusiasts, encompassing not just the big three (Bach, Beethoven, Brahms) but Berg, Barber, Bruch, and many more. Her work in the chamber realm has drawn the same kind of plaudits as have her concertante performances. In 2023, Steinbacher premiered Georges Lentz's violin concerto To Beam In Distant Heavens..., and she returned the following year with a recording of violin concertos by Mendelssohn and Tchaikovsky.
Steinbacher was born in Munich, Germany, on November 14, 1981. Her mother was a singer, and her father once served as répétiteur at the Bavarian State Opera. Steinbacher was extremely precocious, studying violin from age three. From age nine, she received instruction from Ana Chumachenco at the Munich Academy of Music. Steinbacher was later mentored by Ivry Gitlis and aided by a scholarship from the Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation (2001-2005). After her 2004 debut in Paris, offers to perform around the world flooded in. Her first recording, the Khachaturian Violin Concerto, was issued that same year on Orfeo. Steinbacher's 2006 recital debut in New York received high praise from The New York Times, and her major American orchestral debut the following year, with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in the Sibelius concerto, drew raves from the Chicago Tribune.
Steinbacher has issued more than a dozen recordings. In both 2005 and 2006, she received the German Record Critics Awards, the first for her recording of the Milhaud violin concertos and the second for her recording of Shostakovich concertos, both on Orfeo. Her 2006 Orfeo album Violino Latino, containing works by Piazzolla, Ponce, de Falla, and others, deftly conveyed her idiomatic grasp of Latin music. In 2009, Steinbacher signed an exclusive contract with the PentaTone label. Her first album there, Dvorák: Violin Concerto; Romance; Szymanowski: Violin Concerto, was issued that same year.
As a member of the humanitarian organization CARE, Steinbacher toured Japan in 2011 following the tsunami disaster, performing for survivors in CARE shelters. After the tour, the documentary Arabella Steinbacher: Music of Hope was issued, covering her performances and outreach from her time in Japan. She has continued regular tours as well, performing with many leading orchestras, such as the New York Philharmonic and the Boston and London Symphony Orchestras. The conductors she has performed with are equally prestigious and include Lorin Maazel, Christoph von Dohnányi, and Riccardo Chailly, among many others.
In 2020, Steinbacher released Four Seasons, an album containing the works bearing that name by Vivaldi and Piazzolla, with the Munich Chamber Orchestra. In 2023, she premiered the violin concerto To Beam In Distant Heavens... by Georges Lentz and issued two new recordings, Bach & Pärt and Bruch & Korngold. The following year, she returned with a recording of violin concertos by Mendelssohn and Tchaikovsky. Steinbacher's other accolades include two ECHO Klassik Awards, an Editor's Choice Award from Gramophone Magazine, and a Les Chocs du Mois from Le Monde de la Musique.
© Robert Cummings & Keith Finke /TiVo
Similar artists
-
Fauré, Poulenc & Ravel : Works for Violin & piano
Arabella Steinbacher, Robert Kulek
Duets - Released by Orfeo on May 23, 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Khatchaturian: Cello Concerto in E Minor & Violin Concerto in D Minor
Daniel Müller-Schott, Arabella Steinbacher, City Of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Sakari Oramo
Classical - Released by Orfeo on Mar 9, 2004
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Vivaldi: Winter - Four Seasons
Arabella Steinbacher, Munich Chamber Orchestra, Dzeraldas Bidva
Concertos - Released by PENTATONE on Dec 14, 2019
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms: Violin Concerto - Schumann: Symphony No.4
Arabella Steinbacher, Wiener Symphoniker, Fabio Luisi
Symphonic Music - Released by Orfeo on Jan 27, 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
J.S. Bach & Pärt: Works for Violin & Chamber Orchestra
Arabella Steinbacher, Christoph Koncz, Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, Peter von Wienhardt
Classical - Released by PENTATONE on Feb 10, 2023
24-Bit 192.0 kHz - Stereo -
Bruch: Violin Concerto in G Minor - Korngold: Violin Concerto in D Major - Chausson: Poème
Arabella Steinbacher, Orquestra Gulbenkian, Lawrence Foster
Concertos - Released by PENTATONE on Mar 1, 2013
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Mendelssohn & Tchaikovsky: Violin Concertos
Arabella Steinbacher, Ernest Ansermet, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Charles Dutoit
Concertos - Released by PENTATONE on Jun 1, 2015
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Piazzolla: Spring - Four Seasons
Arabella Steinbacher, Munich Chamber Orchestra, Dzeraldas Bidva
Tango - Released by PentaTone on Mar 20, 2020
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Piazzolla: Fall - Four Seasons
Arabella Steinbacher, Munich Chamber Orchestra, Dzeraldas Bidva
Tango - Released by PentaTone on Sep 20, 2019
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Britten & Hindemith: Violin Concertos
Arabella Steinbacher, Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, Vladimir Jurowski
Concertos - Released by PENTATONE on Oct 1, 2017
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms: Famous Pieces
Marek Janowski, Herbert Blomstedt, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Arabella Steinbacher
Symphonies - Released by PENTATONE on Dec 3, 2021
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Aber der Richtige…
Arabella Steinbacher, WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Lawrence Foster
Concertos - Released by PENTATONE on Oct 30, 2018
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo