VII International Jascha Heifetz Competition for Violinists
14-22 February 2025, Vilnius

Mihaela Martin

| Romania

Romanian-born artist Mihaela Martin is one of the most outstanding violin virtuosos of her generation, displaying a chameleon-like versatility of musical expression. Following her prize-winning appearances at the Tchaikovsky, Montreal, Sion and Brussels competitions, Mihaela’s gold medal performance at the Indianapolis Violin Competition launched her international career.

Equally at home as a soloist with orchestra and as a chamber music performer, Mihaela’s performances in season 2023-2024 included concerts with the Bucharest Philharmonic Orchestra, Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra, Berlin Academy for American Music, appearances at the Verbier Festival, Enescu Festival, Budapest Academy Festival, Jerusalem Chamber Music Festival, Kronberg Festival, Santander Festival, Ravinia Festival, and the Suntory Hall.

She has performed with leading orchestras such as the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, as well as the Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. She has worked with conductors such as Manfred Honeck, Andrew Davis, Andrew Litton, Gabor Takacs, Thierry Fischer, Thomas Sanderling, Constantine Orbelian, Nicholaus Harnoncourt, Charles Dutoit, Kurt Masur, Neeme Järvi and Paavo Järvi.

Chamber music has a very important place in Mihaela’s life. In addition to participation at many chamber music festivals, she is a founding member of the Michelangelo String Quartet, with whom she has performed at the Carnegie Hall, Boulez Hall, Wigmore Hall, Library of Congress, Royal Concertgebouw, and the Theatre de Champs Élysée.

Since 2017, she has become the artistic director of the Rolandseck/Bad Honnef Chamber Music Festival, and frequently collaborates with musicians Daniel Barenboim, Sergei Babayan, Lera Auerbach, Krill Gerstein, Denis Kozhukhin, Sharon Kam, Nobuko Imai and Gabor Takacs.

Mihaela Martin is a professor at the University of Music in Cologne, at the Barenboim-Said Academy in Berlin, and at the Kronberg Academy. She gives masterclasses throughout the world and is a regular jury member at important international competitions, such as the Queen Elisabeth (Belgium), Indianapolis (USA), Concours Musical (Canada), Enescu (Romania). Mihaela Martin plays a violin by J. B. Guadagnini which dates to 1748.