José Maria Blumenschein

José Maria Blumenschein (violin) was born in Freiburg im Breisgau into a family from Goiânia, Brazil. He completed his studies with Vera Kramarova in Mannheim and with Joseph Silverstein at the renowned Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. During his studies he founded the Vertigo String Quartet, which won the Duchi d’Acquaviva award. As a committed chamber musician, he has since appeared regularly on concert stages around the world with artists such as Christoph Eschenbach, Roberto Diaz, Joseph Silverstein, Kirill Gerstein, André Watts, and Chantal Juillet.

As a soloist he has won awards in such major international competitions as the International LOUIS SPOHR Competition for Young Violinists, the Nelson Freire Competition in Rio de Janeiro, and the Concours International de Violon Tibor Varga in Switzerland. He has received scholarships and grants from the Carl Flesch Academy, among others.

At the age of twenty-two he was named associate concertmaster of the world-renowned Philadelphia Orchestra. In the 2014 season Blumenschein served as first concertmaster at the Bayreuth Festival under the direction of Christian Thielemann. He has also received invitations from the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra and the Staatskapelle Dresden. In 2010 he was named first concertmaster of the WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne before becoming concertmaster of the Vienna Philharmonic in September 2016. Since autumn 2018 he has once again held the position of first concertmaster of the WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne.

Photography: private archive José Maria Blumenschein