Short Biography
As a violist and conductor, Hartmut Rohde captivates audiences with his rich timbres, versatile musical expression, and deep commitment to each musical style. Rohde is one of Europe’s leading violists and a member of the Mozart Piano Quartet, which was awarded the OPUS Klassik Prize in 2018.
He is also since 1998 a member of Spectrum Concerts Berlin, which presents its own concert series at the Berlin Philharmonic.
His chamber music partners include D. Geringas, J. Jansen, J. Widmann, Lars Vogt, Elena Bashkirova, Paul Meyer, Kolja Blacher, and others. He performs regularly at the Salzburg and Berlin Festivals, Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, Seoul, Sydney, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Vienna Musikverein, and the Casals or Jerusalem Music Festival. He has performed solo concerts with the Beethovenhalle in Bonn, the Staatskapelle Weimar, the NDR Radio Orchestra in Hanover, the Munich Symphony Orchestra, and the Lithuanian Philharmonic with conductors including K. Nagano, P. Järvi, M. Sanderling, and Massimo Zanetti. His CD recordings have been released on EMI Classics, Decca, BMG/Sony, MDG, CPO, and Naxos.
From 2013 to 2017, he served as music director of the Wrocław Chamber Orchestra Leopoldinum. Rohde has also conducted the Biel Symphony Orchestra, the Hamburg Camerata, the Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra of Budapest, and the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra. In 2019–20 his concert tours took him to the Vienna Musikverein, the Vienna and Berlin Konzerthaus, and the Laeiszhalle in Hamburg, as well as to France, South America, Korea, and the United States. In 2018–19, he recorded CDs featuring works by J. Tal and, as a conductor, works by W. E. Korngold and Hans Gál.
In 2022 he founded the Rhinluch-Festival in Brandenburg and serves as its artistic director.
In 2026 Rohde performed the viola concertos by Ghedini and Martin live on Polish Radio for the opening of the Lutosławski Festival in Warsaw.
As one of the most sought-after educators, Hartmut Rohde has taught as a professor at the Berlin University of the Arts since 1993 and is an honorary member of the Royal Academy of Music in London as well as of 26/27 a professor at the new Escuela Superior de Música Forum Musikae in Madrid.
Rohde plays a Giuseppe Fiorini (1899) from Cremona as well as an Ivo Iuliano (2016)
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