David Garrett, born in Aachen in 1980, was already under exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon at the age of 13 and recorded Mozart violin concertos with Claudio Abbado. At the Juilliard School in New York, he studied with Itzhak Perlman. As a crossover violinist, he made his breakthrough with “Free” (2007) and “Encore” (2008), which rose to number 7 in Germany.
“Rock Symphonies” (2010) reached number 1 in the German album charts and is his most successful release with over 600,000 units sold, “Music” (2012) and “Millennium Symphony” (2024) each reached number 2. From 2008 to 2010, he was in the Guinness Book of Records as the fastest violinist in the world: he played Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Flight of the Bumblebee” in 65.26 seconds.
Live, David Garrett combines virtuoso violin playing with rock and pop classics such as “Smooth Criminal”, “Viva la Vida” or “He’s a Pirate”. Whether it’s an arena, festival, gala or corporate event: he brings classical music and pop to one stage and also inspires an audience that otherwise rarely goes to the Konzerthaus.
