Stephen Waarts

Stephen Waarts’ innate and individual musical voice has established him as a firm favourite with audiences. With a voracious appetite for repertoire, he has already performed more than 30 standard violin concertos, as well as rarely performed works, and he is a passionate chamber musician.

Stephen has performed with orchestras such as the Chamber Orchestra of Europe under Sir András Schiff, Frankfurt Radio Symphony under Christoph Eschenbach, Antwerp Symphony under Elim Chan, Orchestre National de Belgique under Marin Alsop and Constantinos Carydis, Szczecin Philharmonic under Rumon Gamba, Lucerne Symphony Orchestra under Lawrence Foster and Deutsche Streicherphilharmonie at the Dresden Philharmonie. Stephen returns to the Frankfurt Radio Symphony, Dresden Philharmonie and the Berlin Konzerthausorchester this season. He has recently appeared at the Aspen Music Festival, Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival, New York and the Marlboro Festival.

Stephen returned to the Krzyżowa-Music Festival this year and performs in recital in Cologne, Berlin, Amsterdam and elsewhere in Europe this season. He made his debut at the Wigmore Hall, London last season with pianist Gabriele Carcano, returned to the Auditorium du Louvre in Paris with a solo recital featuring Paganini, Bach and Ysaÿe, and appeared in recitals and chamber concerts at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and Carnegie Hall in New York.

He released his debut recital album for Rubicon Classics in November 2018, with pianist Gabriele Carcano, featuring works by Schumann and Bartók. 2020 saw the release of Hindemith Kammermusik nr. 4, as part of Ondine Classic’s Kammermusik cycle with Christoph Eschenbach, the Kronberg Academy Soloists and the Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra.

His prize-winning success at the 2015 Queen Elisabeth Competition – including securing the majority vote of the television audience – boosted international attention. In 2015, he was awarded the Mozart Gesellschaft Dortmund scholarship following his appearance at the Krzyżowa-Music Festival. In March 2017 he was awarded the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant. He also won the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern’s soloist award the same year and has performed at the festival every year since then. Stephen was awarded the International Classical Music Awards Orchestra Award by the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra in 2019.

Stephen is currently at the Kronberg Academy, studying under Mihaela Martin. He graduated with a Bachelor’s degree from the Curtis Institute, Philadelphia, where he studied under Aaron Rosand. Prior to this he worked with Itzhak Perlman at the Perlman Music Program and Li Lin at the San Francisco Conservatory. In 2013 he won the Young Concert Artists International Auditions in New York, aged just 17. He was also prize-winner at the 2013 Montreal International Competition and won first prize at the 2014 Menuhin Competition. Stephen is part of the Development Programme of the Orpheum Foundation for the Advancement of Young Soloists.