Rahel Rilling

Rahel Rilling
born in Stuttgart in 1976, is a versatile, internationally sought-after artist. She comes from a celebrated family of musicians and was given her first violin lessons when she was four. Her father is Helmuth Rilling, the conductor and Bach specialist. Even in her youth, she was playing as a violinist on many of his concert tours, in programmes that made Bach’s music better known all over the world.

After studying in Berlin, Zurich and Tel Aviv, she joined what is now the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester in Hamburg. She has played as deputy leader at Orchester Der Komischen Oper Berlin and is a frequent guest with the Berliner Philharmoniker.

As a soloist, she has played in concert with lead- ing international orchestras such as the Musikkollegium Winterthur or the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra Of Venezuela, directed by Gustavo Dudamel, in Caracas/Venezuela.

Chamber music is her greatest passion, which she loves to communicate to young musicians. In 2006, Rahel Rilling founded the Hohenstaufen Chamber Music Festival, which has taken place close to Stuttgart since then (www.hohen-staufen-festival.de). The “Hohenstaufen Ensemble”, which she initiated, gives guest performances internationally and has also put out music by her great-grandfather Robert Kahn on CD (Hänssler). Together with Sir Simon Rattle, Magdalena Kožená and a small ensemble, she has appeared with her ”Soirée” programme in many countries (the programme CD is on the Pentatone label).

Master classes and workshops have taken her from Hong Kong to Chile and Venezuela, where she has also worked with children from the slums.

Her interests range beyond “serious” music to jazz, pop and experimental works. In 2006 she founded the string quartet known as “Die Nixen” (the mermaids), whose repertoire ranges from its own arrangements of jazz and pop numbers to newly composed works. She is also a member of the internationally recognized group “Salut Salon”.

Rahel Rilling plays a violin built by Tomaso Balestrieri, Cremona, in 1767.