The Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 61, was written by Ludwig van Beethoven in 1806. Its first performance by Franz Clement was unsuccessful and for some decades the work languished in obscurity, until revived in 1844 by the then 12-year-old violinist Joseph Joachim with the orchestra of the London Philharmonic Society conducted by Felix Mendelssohn. Joachim would later claim it to be the "greatest" German violin concerto. Since then it has become one of the best-known and regularly performed violin concertos.
Karl Goldmark was a Hungarian-born Viennese composer.
Gidon Kremer is a Latvian classical violinist, artistic director, and founder of Kremerata Baltica.
Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf was an Austrian composer, violinist, and silvologist. He was a friend of both Haydn and Mozart. His best-known works include the German singspiel Doktor und Apotheker and a number of programmatic symphonies based on Ovid's Metamorphoses.
Ferdinand Ries was a German composer. Ries was a friend, pupil and secretary of Ludwig van Beethoven. He composed eight symphonies, a violin concerto, nine piano concertos, three operas, and numerous other works, including 26 string quartets. In 1838 he published a collection of reminiscences of his teacher Beethoven, co-written with Beethoven's friend, Franz Wegeler. Ries' symphonies, some chamber works—most of them with piano—his violin concerto and his piano concertos have been recorded, exhibiting a style which, given his connection to Beethoven, lies between the Classical and early Romantic styles.
Egon Joseph Wellesz, CBE, FBA was an Austrian, later British composer, teacher and musicologist, notable particularly in the field of Byzantine music.
Lera Auerbach is a Soviet-born Austrian-American classical composer, conductor and concert pianist.
Leonidas Kavakos is a Greek violinist and conductor. He has won several international violin competition prizes, including the Sibelius, Paganini, Naumburg, and Indianapolis competitions. He is an Onassis Foundation scholar. He has also recorded for record labels such as Sony/BMG and BIS. As a conductor, he was an artistic director of the Camerata Salzburg and has been a guest conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra and Boston Symphony Orchestra.
Kurt Schwertsik is an Austrian contemporary composer. He is known for creating the "Third Viennese School" and spreading contemporary classical music.
Lars Vogt was a German classical pianist, conductor and academic teacher. Noted by The New York Times for his interpretations of Brahms, Vogt performed as a soloist with major orchestras, including the Berlin Philharmonic. He was the music director of the Orchestre de chambre de Paris at the time of his death and also served as the music director of the Royal Northern Sinfonia. He ran a festival of chamber music, Spannungen, from 1998, and succeeded his teacher Karl-Heinz Kämmerling as professor of piano at the Musikhochschule Hannover.
Iván Erőd was a Hungarian-Austrian composer and pianist. Educated in Budapest, he emigrated to Austria in 1956, where he studied at the Vienna Music Academy. He was successful as a pianist and composer of operas, chamber music and much more, with elements from serialism, Hungarian folk music and jazz. He first was a professor of music theory and composition at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz (1967–1989), then a professor of composition at the Vienna Music Academy from 1989.
Eldbjørg Hemsing is a Norwegian violinist. She started her career at the age of 11. She premiered several works by Tan Dun in her solo debut with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra. She is the younger sister of the Norwegian violinist Ragnhild Hemsing and currently lives in Berlin.
Sebastian Manz is a German clarinetist. He is solo clarinetist in the SWR Symphonieorchester, international soloist and chamber musician. He is also active as an arranger and composer.
Gerhard Präsent is an Austrian composer, conductor and academic teacher.
Zdzisław Wysocki is a Polish composer, born in 1944 in Poznań (Posen).
Hugo Gottesmann was an Austrian violinist, violist, conductor, and chamber musician. A highly decorated soldier in World War I, his career in Vienna as a conductor and violinist was truncated with the advent of the Third Reich in 1933. He was fired from his positions at Radio Wien, the Vienna Symphony, and the Academie für Musik and forced to seek work elsewhere in Europe and emigrate to the United States.
Patricia Kopatchinskaja is a Moldovan-Austrian-Swiss violinist.
Ulf Wallin is a Swedish classical violinist and professor at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin.
Kolja Lessing is a German violinist, pianist, composer and academic teacher. His focus as a soloist and chamber musician has been the neglected repertoire by composers who were ostracised under the Nazi regime. His recordings include four volumes of works by students of Franz Schreker in his master classes in Vienna and Berlin.
René Staar is an Austrian composer, violinist and conductor.
