Sebastian Bohren

www.sebastianbohren.ch

 

Biography

“In rhetoric and expressive interpretations, Sebastian Bohren proves a versatile and imaginative Bach performer” (Pizzicato)

With his expressive, soulful playing, Swiss violinist Sebastian Bohren has quickly established himself as one of the most interesting talents of his generation. Concerts as a soloist and chamber musician lead the young musician around the globe. He appears as a soloist with the Argovia Philharmonic, CHAARTS, Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, Musikkollegium Winterthur, Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Symphony Orchestra Basel, as well as with the chamber orchestras of Zurich and Basel, under the direction of Ivor Bolton, Douglas Boyd, Elim Chan, James Gaffigan, Heinz Holliger, Patrick Lange, Andrew Litton, Andrew Manze and Gábor Takács-Nagy. In 2018 he made his debut at the Lucerne Festival. As a soloist Sebastian plays a broad repertoire from Bach to contemporary works and is increasingly active with Play & Lead of various chamber orchestras (Camerata Zürich, Chamber Orchestra Bern and CHAARTS).
 
Highlights of the 2021/22 season include appearances with the Sinfonieorchester Basel and Clemens Heil (Lindberg 1st Violin Concerto), Württembergische Philharmonie Reutlingen and Leo McFall (Prokofiev Violin Concerto No. 2), Festival Strings Lucerne (Vox Amoris), Kammerorchester Basel and Riccardo Minasi (Mozart K219), Orchestre de Chambre Fribourgeois (Korngold), Kölner Kammerorchester and Christoph Poppen (Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in e), Chaarts (Mendelssohn Double Concerto), Kammerphilharmonie Graubünden (Prokofiev Violin Concerto No. 1) as well as recitals in Hamburg and Lugano.
 
Sebastian Bohren’s recording of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto, released in 2016 with RCA Red Seal was received with great critical acclaim. 2017 has seen another recording featuring violin concertos of Mendelssohn, Hartmann and Schubert as well as digitally-released live albums with works by Vasks, Kancheli and Shostakovich, and in 2019 violin concertos by Mendelssohn and Britten with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic conducted by Andrew Litton were released. His Mozart Violin Concerto recording with Chaarts and  Gábor Takács-Nagy featuring concertos No. 3 and 5 was hailed by the Gramophone magazine with “bags of character and consideration… a listening experience that commands the attention from start to finish”.
 
Bohren’s chamber music partners include Reto Bieri, Thomas Demenga, Konstantin Lifschitz, Christian Poltera, Benjamin Schmid, Hansheinz Schneeberger, Dmitry Sitkovetsky and Antoine Tamestit.
 
Born in 1987, Sebastian Bohren studied in Zurich, Lucerne and Munich with Zakhar Bron, Igor Karsko, Ingolf Turban and Robert Zimansky. He received further influences from Ana Chumachenco and Hansheinz Schneeberger. The Zurich-based violinist still maintains close ties with his home, the canton of Aargau. In 2015 he was granted a sabbatical year by the Aargauer Kuratorium, and in summer 2015 he was Artist in Residence at the Boswiler Sommer Festival. Sebastian successfully directs his own concert series, the Stretta Concerts in Brugg.
 
Sebastian Bohren plays an instrument by G.B. Guadagnini (Parma 1776) from a Swiss private collection.