A brilliant technique coupled with a lean, uncluttered and finely crafted sound that is velvety in the lower registers and exquisitely luminous in the upper; add to that the ease and bravura with which he overcomes the enormous challenges of the piece – violinist Stefan Tarara has it all, in spades. But there’s more: the most remarkable aspect of Mr. Tarara’s playing is his artistic maturity, combining an unerring sense of style with deep musicality. Nothing appears forced or rehearsed – it comes from within.  / Mannheimer Morgen /

Stefan Tarara was born into a musical family in Heidelberg, Germany in 1986 and made his stage debut at the age of four. After earning his baccalaureate in Heidelberg in 2006, Tarara completed his Diploma (2010), an MA in Specialized Music Performance (2012) and an MA in Pedagogy (2015) in the class of Zakhar Bron at the University of Arts in Zurich, Switzerland. Due to his successes at international music competitions, Tarara was named Musician of the Year in 2008 and 2010 by the German music journal Neue Musikzeitung.

Tarara won 27 times 1^st prizes at national and international competitions, among them:

1^st prize at the international “George Enescu” Competition 2014
1^st prize at the international violin competition “Boris Goldstein” 2015 in Bern,
1^st prize at the international violin competition “R. Lipizer” 2011 in Italy,
1^st prize at the international violin competition “Valsesia Musica” 2006,
1^st prize at the international competition “H. Wieniawski and K. Lipiński” 2005 and
1^st prize and special prize for the best interpretation of a virtuoso work at the international violin competition “Henry Marteau” in 2005

Furthermore he is a prize winner at the international “Premio Paganini” 2010 in Genova, the international “H. Wieniawski” 2011 Competition in Poznan and the international Summer Academy in Salzburg in 2005 as well as won 2^nd prize at the international competition “Tibor Varga“ 2008 and “Prague Spring” 2010.

He already played the violin concerto no. 2 by Henri Wieniawski at the age of 10 and has appeared as soloist with many orchestras: SWR Radio Orchestra, “Münchner Rundfunkorchester”, RTV Symphony Orchestra Ljubljana, Israel Chamber Orchestra, RTV Prague, Philharmonic Orchestra Bucharest, Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, and China National Symphony Orchestra, among many others.

Tarara broadened his artistic potential through encounters with a number of internationally renowned musicians inclunding Zubin Metha, David Zinman, Krzystof Penderecki, Yair Kless, Yfrah Neaman and Reinhard Göbel. He also received significant artistic impulses from his participatin in chamber music projects with, among others, Hariolf Schlichtig, Antoine Tamestit, Kalle Randalu, Martin Ostertag and David Geringas.

He has performed on the world’s most famous concert stages including Philharmonie Berlin, Tonhalle Zurich, Salle Pleyel in Paris, Liederhalle Stuttgart, Frauenkirche Dresden and the Museum of Art in Tel Aviv. His appearances at music festivals as the Schleswig-Holstein Musikfestival, Salzburger Festspiele, the Verbier Festival, Prague Spring, Bach Festival Leipzig and Heidelberger Frühling have received enthusiastic praise from audiences and critics.

Tarara has a keen interest in contemporary music. In addition to performing numerous premieres, Tarara won the Interpretation Prize for his performance of Massimo Lauricella’s work “Kairos” at the International Premio Paganini Competition in 2010.

In 2015 Stefan Tarara released together with his piano partner Lora Vakova-Tarara the CD “The Sound of the 20s” with works by Bloch, Ravel and Enescu at the German label “ARS Produktion” (ARS 38 179). The CD was awarded the “klassik.com” prize right after its release.

Completing George Enescu’s cycle of works for violin and piano, the Duo Tarara released the second CD named “Childhood Impressions” at the same label in 2016 (ARS 38 212).

Tarara regularly offers master classes in Germany, Poland and Switzerland. Since the beginning of 2014, he is Assistant to Prof. Zakhar Bron in Interlaken, Switzerland.

Stefan Tarara was between 2010 and 2015 the first concertmaster of the “Mannheim Philharmonic Orchestra”; he is now since 2012 the first concertmaster and Soloist of the “Hulencourt Soloist Chamber Orchestra”.

He plays a violin by Nicolo Gagliano of Naples, thanks to the generous support of the German Music Foundation (Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben).

(May 2016)

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Program performed during the 14th International Henryk Wieniawski Violin Competition (October 2011):

Stage 1:

J. S. Bach: first and second movement of a sonata for solo violin BWV 1001
N. Paganini: Capriccio No. 4 Op. 1
H. Wieniawski: Capriccio Op. 10 No. 7 (La Cadenza)
B. Bartók: Sonata for violin solo, first movement Tempo di Ciaccona

Stage 2:

S. Prokofiev: II Sonata in D Major Op. 94 bis
H. Wieniawski: Fantasy on Themes from Ch. Gounod’s Opera Faust Op. 20
K. Szymanowski: La fontaine d'Arethuse of Mythes cycle Op. 30

Stage 3:

W. A. Mozart: Violin Concerto in G Major KV 216 (first movement) ; Cadence author: S. Franco
W. A. Mozart: first movement of Sinfonia Concertante in E flat Major KV 364/320d

Michał Bryła - viola

Stage 4:

H. Wieniawski: First Violin Concerto in F sharp Minor Op. 14
J. Sibelius: Second Violin Concerto in D Minor Op. 22