Sarah Christian, Violin

Biography

Sarah Christian was born 1990 in Augsburg and started studying the violin and the piano with her ​​parents at the age of three.  In 1996, she entered the violin class of Prof. Samson Gonashvili and in the piano class of Raquel Toescu at the David Oistrakh Academy in Ingolstadt.   In 1999 she continued her violin studies with Jorge Sutil of the Munich Philharmonic.  She started at the Mozarteum in Salzburg in 2006 with Igor Ozim, and in 2010 graduated with the Bachelor degree with highest honors.  She is currently studying at the Academy of Music "Hanns Eisler" in Berlin, in the violin class of Antje Weithaas.  She attended master classes with Thomas Brandis, Petru Munteanu, Christiane Hutcap, Rainer Schmidt, Maxim Vengerov and Thomas Zehetmaier.

Sarah Christian won several “Young Musicians" competitions in Germany, both as a violinist and a pianist.  In 2003 she was awarded Edward Soering Prize by the German Music Foundation. She also participated in several international competitions.  In 2004 she placed third in the Young Violinists category at the 4th International Louis Spohr Competition.  The 1st Prize at the International Violin Competition in Usti nad Orlici / Czech Republic in 2005 was followed by the Third Prize and a special prize for the best interpretation of a work by Mozart at the Second Henri Marteau International Violin Competition, and the Second Prize and special prize for the virtuoso work at the International Competition "Schöntal Abbey Cultural Foundation's" in Hohenlohe.  In July 2007, her string quartet was awarded a grant from the city of Salzburg.  A year later she won the First Prize at the Johannes Brahms Competition in Pörtschach, Austria.  That same year she was awarded the "Best string player of the year" award and the Yehudi Menuhin Medal of the University Mozarteum in Salzburg.

Sarah Christian pursues an active concert career that took her to many European countries, China and the United States.  She played as a soloist with the University of Augsburg orchestra, the "Via Nova" choir of Munich, with the philharmonic orchestras of Sibiu and Timisoara, Romania, the Bavarian Chamber Philharmonic, the Orchestra of the Mozarteum University in Salzburg and Klagenfurt Sinfonieorchester.  Since March 2005, she receives the scholarship of the German Music Foundation and is also supported by the Werner and Christa Strohmayr Foundation.

Currently, she plays a violin by Antonio Gragnani, Livorno, 1779, on loan from the German Music Instrument Fund.