Matthias Wollong

Matthias Wollong, born in Berlin in 1968, began playing the violin at the age of five. After training in Werner Scholz's masterclass, he went to Switzerland from 1987 to 1989 to study with the legendary violinist and teacher Tibor Varga. During this time, he performed as a soloist in Germany, France and Switzerland. At the end of his studies there, he won the violin competition named after his teacher. This was followed by numerous other prizes, including the top prize at the Joseph Joachim Violin Competition in Austria. He was already a member of the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra at a young age.

He has been 1st concertmaster of the Staatskapelle Dresden since 1999, having held the same position with the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin from 1991 to 1999. He regularly works with leading conductors such as Adam Fischer, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos and Marek Janowski as well as with orchestras such as the ORF Symphony Orchestra, the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Staatskapelle Dresden, the Berlin Symphony Orchestra and the Staatskapelle Weimar. He has also appeared as a soloist with Lorenzo Viotti, Myung-Whun Chung and Lionel Bringuier. In the summer months, he plays as 1st concertmaster in the Bayreuth Festival Orchestra.

Matthias Wollong has been devoting himself increasingly to chamber music for several years. His chamber music partners have included Pascal Rogé, Michael Sanderling and Sol Gabetta. He has enjoyed a long-standing artistic collaboration with the Leipzig String Quartet.

As a conductor, he has led the German Chamber Orchestra, the Thuringia Philharmonic and the Cairo Symphony Orchestra. Since 2003, he has been a permanent conductor and soloist with the European Union Chamber Orchestra, with whom he tours Europe, the Far East and North and South America.

Matthias Wollong has recorded numerous highly acclaimed CDs, such as the complete works for violin by Othmar Schoeck and Wilhelm Furtwängler (CPO) and the violin concertos by Ernest Bloch and Alfredo Casella with Vladimir Jurowski for Capriccio. The piano trios by Johannes Brahms have also been released by Genuin. In 2008 he received an ‘ECHO Klassik’ award for his recording of chamber music by Erich Wolfgang Korngold.

Matthias Wollong holds a professorship at the Franz Liszt University of Music Weimar. He plays a violin made by Andreas Guarneri in 1676.