Julian Rachlin

Rachlin was fourteen when the Vienna Philharmonic engaged him as a soloist under Riccardo Muti — the youngest soloist it had ever invited. Born in Lithuania and raised in Vienna, he studied with Boris Kuschnir and Pinchas Zukerman, and has kept the viola in active use beside the violin. Conducting came later: he is Chief Conductor of the Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra, and has held positions with the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Northern Sinfonia and the Turku Philharmonic. In Eisenstadt he directs the Herbstgold Festival. He is a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. He learned conducting with Mariss Jansons and counted Daniele Gatti as his mentor, and he has taught at the Musik und Kunst Privatuniversität der Stadt Wien (formerly the Vienna Conservatory) since 1999. Penderecki wrote for him the Concerto Doppio for violin, viola and orchestra and the Chaconne for violin and viola, and for more than a decade he ran the Julian Rachlin and Friends festival in Dubrovnik. His instruments, a 1704 Stradivari known as the ex-Liebig and a 1785 viola by Lorenzo Storioni, come from the Dkfm. Angelika Prokopp Foundation in Vienna. He served as Music Director of the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra from 2023 to 2026.