ՄԱՔՍԻՄԻԼԻԱՆ ՍԻՄՈՆ, ՋՈՒԹԱԿ. ՎԱՐՊԵՏՈՒԹՅԱՆ ԴԱՍԵՐ ԵՎ ԿԼՈՐ ՍԵՂԱՆ ԴԻԼԻՋԱՆՈՒՄ

Whether as a soloist, chamber musician or as deputy section leader of the 2nd violins of the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, Maximilian Simon inspires on stage with self-confident sovereignty, technical brilliance, expressive playing and his noticeably infectious enthusiasm for music. Curious by nature and open to challenges, the charismatic musician and GEWA Music Brand Ambassador manages to convince his listeners offline and online not only with the standard works of the repertoire, but also with contemporary and unknown music.

Highlights of his past appearances as a soloist were concerts with Yuri Bashmet in Rostov am Dom and in the Moscow Conservatory with the violin concerto by Beethoven and the Concerto funèbre by Karl Amadeus Hartmann. In the Berlin Philharmonie, the audience listened to him visibly spellbound as he interpreted the late romantic violin concerto by Erich J. Wolff with the Berliner Symphoniker under the baton of Lior Shambadal — as “sung touchingly, as virtuosically brilliant”, as the press judged and the jubilation in the hall confirmed.

Born in Koblenz in 1988, Maximilian began playing the violin at the age of six and won his first competition just a year later. Numerous other awards followed before he studied at the Berlin University of Music “Hanns Eisler” (Prof. Wallin) and at the University of Music and Theater Hanover (Prof. Wegrzyn) and passed his concert exam. He received valuable artistic impulses in master classes, among others, with Pierre Amoyal, Vadim Gluzman and Christian Tetzlaff. Maximilian Simon made his solo debut in 2009 with the Folkwang Chamber Orchestra Essen.

Subsequently, engagements took him to the Rheinische Philharmonie Koblenz, the Jenaer Philharmonie, the Symphony Orchestra of the Far East and the Moscow Soloists as well as to renowned festivals such as the Schwetzingen SWR Festival, the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival, the Salzburg Summer Festival, Young Euro Classics Berlin, Dialog of the 4 cultures in Lodz and at the tide festival. His chamber music partners include artists such as Yuri Bashmet, Jens-Peter Maintz, Patrick Demenga and Michail Lifits. Several radio recordings for SWR2, HR2 and Deutschlandradio documented his artistic work.

Maximilian Simon was a scholarship holder of the Rheinland-Pfalz Future Initiative (ZIRP), the Orchestra Academy of the Staatskapelle Berlin and the Villa Musica Rheinland-Pfalz, which loaned him two violins (Sanctus Seraphin and Vincenzo Panormo) for two years each.

In the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Maximilian Simon plays a violin by Nicolo Amati from 1623, which is generously loaned to him from a private collection. In addition, he is an author at the Ries & Erler music publisher: together with his colleague Nadine Contini he has published the work “Carl Flesch: The Art of Violin Playing, compactly edited by Maximilian Simon and Nadine Contini” in November 2020. As an ongoing bestseller, the book has already won the prestigious „Best Edition“ — Price by the German Music Publishing Association.