She first picked up the violin when she was just five years old. When she was 13, she was invited to perform alongside the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra by none other than Herbert von Karajan. Before she even turned 20, she had already performed with legendary conductors including Daniel Barenboim, Seiji Ozawa, Riccardo Muti and Zubin Mehta and released several albums for Deutsche Grammophon and EMI Classics. She is a highly versatile artist, known also for her passion for contemporary music. She has had works dedicated to her by Henri Dutilleux, Witold Lutosławski, Sophia Gubaidulina and John Williams. “For me, the violin was the greatest discovery of my life and has remained to this day,” the four-time Grammy winner says about her instrument. One of the finest maestros of the instrument working today, Anne-Sophie Mutter appears in Kraków on 12 March.

“The meeting with Anne-Sophie Mutter at the ICE Kraków Congress Centre is a hugely important events on Poland’s concert calendar. We are delighted that it is the first performance by this incredible musician during her tour of Poland. (…) We are incredibly honoured,” says Izabela Helbin, director of the Krakow Festival Office. Mutter’s performance inaugurates this year’s ICE Classic cycle presenting the greatest stars of classical music in the modern setting and outstanding acoustics of ICE Kraków.

The German violinist shows off her full range of skills and styles, from Johann Sebastian Bach’s Baroque Partita in D minor, through Johannes Brahms’s Romantic Scherzo in C minor from his F-A-E Sonata, to works by Krzysztof Penderecki composed especially for her. They include Duo concertante for violin and double bass (we will hear Roman Patkoló, graduate from the Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation), the solo variations La Follia recalling Baroque dances, and Sonata No. 2 for violin and piano with Lambert Orkis. Including the works by the Polish composer is Mutter’s way of marking his 85th birthday; the two have been close friends and musical collaborators for many years.

The performance by Anne-Sophie Mutter, co-organised by the Krakow Festival Office and the Ludwig van Beethoven Association, also forms a part of the events of the 22nd Ludwig van Beethoven Easter Festival. (Barbara Skowrońska)