Anne-Sophie Mutter

1990s

By the 1990s, Mutter had established herself as an international star, transitioning from Wunderkind to mature artist The press described her as a "master of the violin" and "musician of near peerless virtuosity and unimpeachable integrity," with critics noting her glamorous image. One author of Der Spiegel wrote in regards to Mutter's rise to fame: "In the meantime, the entire classical music world knows these tones and this musical master: Anne-Sophie Mutter, now 25, is probably the only world star made in Germany in today's instrumentalist trade and the first violinist from [Germany] who can keep up with the world's violin standard. After Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau's flight of fancy, no other serious musician from Germany – gender notwithstanding – has succeeded in rising more quickly from the first floor to the penthouse of the international guild of interpreters. In her line of work she is at the top: Frau Fiddler on the roof."

In the 1990s, Mutter premiered Wolfgang Rihm's Gesungene Zeit (1992), Sebastian Currier's Aftersong (1994) and Krzysztof Penderecki's Violin Concert No. 2 Metamorphosen (1995). That same decade, Mutter released some of her best-selling albums, including Carmen Fantasie with James Levine and the Vienna Philharmonic (1993) and Vivaldi's Four Seasons with Karajan and the Vienna Philharmonic (recorded in 1984, published in 1994) and another Vivaldi's Four Seasons album with the Trondheim Soloists (1999).

In 1998 she played and recorded for CD and DVD the complete set of Beethoven's Violin Sonatas (released 1999), accompanied by Lambert Orkis; these were broadcast on television in many countries. The recording of the sonatas received a Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance. Mutter devoted an entire year to performing all ten of Beethoven's violin sonatas in the "Beethoven: Face to Face" tour in cities throughout North America and Europe, including additional modern pieces. Music critic Anthony Tommasini of the New York Times wrote on a concert of the Beethoven tour, "Ms. Mutter's playing had its trademark qualities: rich yet focused tone, striking varieties of sound, articulate yet supple rhythmic play. But her increasing work in recent years with living composers has brought a new kind of intellectual energy to her playing, for she was particularly attentive to the bold turns in this youthful music."

2000s

With the turn of the century, Mutter continued supporting new music and began collaborating with composer and conductor André Previn, who dedicated several works to Mutter. Mutter premiered a Tango Song and Dance in 2002, which Previn composed for her. Mutter also gave the first permanence and recording of Previn's Violin Concerto with the Boston Symphony Orchestra the same year, of which the recording became a critical success. Mutter toured with orchestras under the direction of Previn, performing his concerto and later premiering Previn's double concerto for violin and contrabass in 2007 with Roman Patkoló. Two years later, she premiered his Second Piano Trio with Lynn Harrell and Previn and Concerto for Violin and Viola with Yuri Bashmet.

Other contemporary works dedicated to Mutter that she premiered included Henri Dutilleux's Nocturne for violin and orchestra Sur le même accord (2002) under Kurt Masur conducting the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Sofia Gubaidulina's violin concerto (2007) under Sir Simon Rattle with the Berlin Philharmonic.

For Mozart's 250th Anniversary from 2005 to 2006, Mutter toured throughout Europe, North America, and Asia, including China, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan, performing Mozart's complete Violin Concertos, the Sinfonia Concertante for Violin, Viola and Orchestra and complete Piano Trios. Mutter performed with Lambert Orkis and André Previn as pianists. Five DVD and CD recordings containing the works performed on tour and the complete Violin sonatas of Mozart were released.

In October 2006, on French television, Mutter appeared to indicate that she would be retiring when she turned 45, in 2008. However the following month she said that her words were "misinterpreted" and that she would continue to play as long as she felt she could "bring anything new, anything important, anything different to music".

To mark the bicentenary of Mendelssohn's birth, Mutter rerecorded Mendelssohn's violin concerto with Kurt Masur and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and his Piano Trio No. 1 with Lynn Harrell and André Previn in 2009. Mutter also gave live performances of the concerto in San Francisco, New York, London and Oslo.

2010s

Mutter performed classical and contemporary works during the 2010s, touring Europe, North America, Asia, South America, and Australia. For her yearly tours and performances, she continued her collaborations with Lambert Orkis and performed the major concertos of the classical repertoire. She premiered Wolfgang Rihm's "Lichtes Spiel" with the New York Philharmonic and "Dyade" with double bass player Roman Patkoló in 2010 and Sebastian Currier's "Time Machines" with the New York Philharmonic conducted by Alan Gilbert in 2011 to critical acclaim. In 2010 and 2011, Mutter was the Mary and James G. Wallach Artist-in-Residence at the New York Philharmonic.

In 2011, Mutter established the Mutter Virtuosi, composed of select students and graduates of the Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation (established 2008) that perform with Mutter. The chamber ensemble has toured multiple times throughout different continents in the 2010s, performing modern works and classics such as Vivaldi's Four Seasons. As part of Deutsche Grammophon's series to introduce classical music to broader audiences, Mutter and the Mutter Virtuosi performed works by Bach, Vivaldi, Gershwin and John Williams in a night club at Berlin's venue Neue Heimat in 2015. The performance was recorded for The Club Album – Live from the Yellow Lounge. Mutter was the soloist for the Berlin Philharmonic's 2015 New Year Eve's concert under Sir Simon Rattle.

Mutter gave the world premiere of Previn's "Violin Concerto no. 2 for Violin and String Orchestra with the Trondheim Soloists in 2012, the premier of Sebastian Currier's "Ringtone Variations" for violin and double bass in 2013, and the premiere of John Williams' Markings for solo violin, strings and harp with the Boston Symphony Orchestra under Andris Nelsons in 2017. In 2018, Mutter premiered Previn's The Fifth Season, Krzysztof Penderecki's Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 2, and his Duo concertante per violino e contrabbasso.

In 2018, Mutter gave a concert with pianist Lang Lang titled the Berlin Concert with the Staatskapelle Berlin under Manfred Honeck for the 120 Anniversary of Deutsche Grammophon. For the anniversary, Mutter also gave concerts in Seoul, South Korea, and Tokyo, Japan. The following year, Mutter performed for the 20th anniversary of the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra with Maxim Vengerov and Martha Argerich.

In 2019, Mutter joined John Williams to perform Williams' works for solo violin and orchestra, titled "Across The Stars". The tour and album contained works from Williams' film scores, with such notable pieces as the Star Wars themes, Rey and Yoda, and Hedwig's Theme from Harry Potter. The same year, Mutter toured Europe with the West–Eastern Divan Orchestra, playing Beethoven's Triple Concerto with Daniel Barenboim and Yo-Yo Ma. The tour included stops in Buenos Aires and Berlin, and resulted in the release of a CD by Deutsche Grammophon. In March 2019, Mutter premiered Sebastian Currier's Ghost Trio with Daniel Müller-Schott and Lambert Orkis at Carnegie Hall.

In September 2019, Mutter stopped during a performance of Beethoven's Violin Concerto with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra to ask a cellphone user to stop recording. The incident received significant press coverage and refueled debates about concert cellphone etiquette.

2020–present

Mutter has recently premiered several pieces that have been dedicated to her, including Jörg Widmann's string quartet Studie über Beethoven in Tokyo (2020), John Williams' Concerto for Violin and Orchestra No. 2 in Tanglewood with the Boston Symphony Orchestra (2021), Unsuk Chin's violin duet Gran Cadenza (2021) in Regensburg with violinist Ye-Eun Choi and Thomas Adès' work for violin and orchestra Air – Homage to Sibelius (2022) at the Lucerne Festival with the Lucerne Festival Contemporary Orchestra.

Mutter's 2023 Virtuosi tour included works by Vivaldi and Bach and by Joseph Bologne in an effort to revive the composer's legacy. In 2023, Mutter also performed chamber pieces by Beethoven, Brahms, Currier and Schuman with Lambert Orkis and Maximilians Hornung. Mutter continued to premiere Kurrier’s “Ghost Trio” and Previn’s “Nonet” in several European countries and continued performances of William’s Violin Concerto no. 2 alongside some of his film scores.

In January 2024, Mutter gave the UK premiere of William’s Violin Concerto No. 2 with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. In the spring of that year, Mutter toured East Asia with Lambert Orkis, performing works by Mozart, Respighi, Schumann and Schubert. Mutter performed core violin concertos in concert series with the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra under Daniel Barenboim, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra under Manfred Honeck, the National Danish Symphony Orchestra and the London Philharmonic.

In 2025, Mutter performed Beethoven and Tchaikovsky Trios with Yefim Bronfman and Pablo Ferrández in US and German cities. Mutter resumed the concerts series “Across the Stars” featuring various compositions by John Williams, but with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under Vasily Petrenko. On October 25, 2025, Mutter gave the premieres of „Three Dances” for violin and orchestra by Max Richter and "When the world was Waltzing" by John Williams in a 200th anniversary concert for Johann Strauss with the Vienna Philharmonic under Manfred Honeck at the Vienna Musikverein.