Biography
“Certainly, he has a unique and full-bodied sound, but it’s the musical intelligence that is capable of returning melodies to the musical phrases, filled with infinite inflections from the changing dynamics, like verses of a multi-voiced poem that constitutes the true mastery of his interpretation.”
Julian Kainrath was born in Merano, Italy. He started his violin studies at the age of six, and has been given public performances since he was ten years old. He studied with Boris Kuschnir at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz, Austria (2018-2022). Since 2023 he is a student of Marc Bouchkov at the Conservatoire Royal de Liège in Belgium. In April 2022, the Luxembourg-based International Classical Music Awards (ICMA) announced that 16-year-old Julian Kainrath was awarded with the Discovery Prize 2022: “our winners are the expression of the highest artistry”, said Remy Franck, the President of the Jury. A highlight of the season was Julian’s appearance under conductor Adam Fischer with the Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra at the Luxembourg Philharmonie in April 2022 – the critics were very enthusiastic, writing: “In the second program item, the audience was treated to a particularly outstanding performance. The 16-year-old violinist Julian Kainrath from Merano, winner of the Discovery Award, not only gave a brilliant rendition of the Introduction and Rondo capriccioso by Camille Saint-Saens, but also, despite his young age, knew how to give this work a very personal interpretation, after which one can hope for much more to come from this true artist”.
A highlight of the season was Julian’s appearance under conductor Adam Fischer with the Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra at the Luxembourg Philharmonie.
For the 2023/2024 season, recitals and concerts with orchestra are planned in Italy, Germany, France, Austria, Switzerland, and the US. Of particular note is the debut in Venice, at the Sale Apollinee of the Teatro La Fenice, at the St. Moritz Festival, at the Teatro Ristori in Verona, at the Società del Quartetto di Bergamo, at the Austrian Cultural Center in Washington DC, and at the Festival Jeunes Talents in Cannes. In addition, Julian will perform three Partitas by Bach for violin solo at the Ristori Baroque Festival in Verona and is invited to perform with orchestra Bruch’s Concerto in Leverkusen in Germany and with the Orchestre National de Cannes in France. He performed at the beginning of the season at the Festival Suoni a Ledro, in Milan at the Sala delle Colonne of the Leonardo da Vinci Science Museum Vinci, in Trieste with the Ferruccio Busoni Orchestra, and at the Ehrbar Saal in Vienna.
During the 2021/2022 season Julian was invited to play in many venues in Italy, including the Settimane Musicali of Merano, the Società dei Concerti of Milan, the Mattinate Musicali Internazionali of Trieste, the Camerata Ducale in Vercelli, the Festival Bolzano Bozen, and in Hamburg in Germany, in Graz, Vienna and Salzburg in Austria, in Vaduz in Liechtenstein and in Bern in Switzerland. The recital at the BA Classica Festival in Busto Arsizio with great pianist Louis Lortie was of great importance in Julian’s musical growth – “the concert provided moments of sublime music thanks to the synergy of the two performers which deeply affected the audience in the hall” the critics wrote. Louis Lortie has since become an important mentor and point of reference.
The 2022/2023 season saw the young violinist performing concerts in Vienna, in Schwarzenberg at the Angelika-Kauffmann-Hall in Austria, at the Scala Theater Museum in Milan, in Marseille, at the Teatro Ristori in Verona with ‘I virtuosi Italiani’, in Munich, and was invited back to Bern and Liechtenstein.
In July 2021 and 2022 Julian was selected to be part of violinist Ilya Gringolts’ class at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena, Italy, and had the opportunity to perform with Gringolts a recital dedicated to Steve Reich. In August he performed at the Sommerakademie Schloss Heiligenberg under the guidance of Marc Bouchkov and was awarded with a prize for his performance. Soon after he played concerts in France, at the Bergerac Festival.
During the pandemic in 2020 Julian was invited by the Konzerthaus Wien to perform on their online concert series “Konzertzuhaus”. Joining renowned pianist Till Fellner, Julian performed a Beethoven Violin Sonata to celebrate Beethoven’s year. Soon after they were invited to perform an entire recital in Appiano, Italy. In August 2020 he played Bach’s violin concertos with the Streicherakademie Bozen in the summer festival Bolzano Festival Bozen. In September 2020 he was invited to perform in the Festival Arsonore in Graz, Austria.
In July 2019 Julian was selected as “student in residence” at the 26th Verbier Festival, where he played concerts and attended masterclasses of renowned violinists as Pamela Frank, Donald Weilerstein and Kristof Barati. In Verbier Julian met violinist Marc Bouchkov, and since then he has been his greatest inspiration and mentor.
Julian was born in Merano, Italy. He started his violin studies at the age of six. Julian has been given public performances since he was ten years old. He had his first appearance as a soloist with orchestra in South America (Bolivia) in 2015, soon after he has been invited to play for the authorities of the city of Bolzano in the presence of the Prefect and the Mayor during an official act, in 2016 he was invited by the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine to play in Kiev, and same year he returned to Bolivia to perform two more concerts. During the season 2017/2018 he was invited by the music association KulturKontakt in Appiano, Italy, to give a recital, and same year he was part of the Bergerac Festival in France (attending masterclasses and playing concerts). In 2018 he was invited by the Chamber Orchestra Innstrumenti for a tour in Nord and South Tyrol. Among others, he played at the Haus der Musik in Innsbruck and at the Kursaal in Merano, earning enthusiastic reviews (“the young South Tyrolean has such an organic connection to his instrument, and such a stupendous technique and musicality”, “the palms were due to the 13-year-old Julian Kainrath, who confidently performed Sarasate’s gypsy airs …so much came over his instrument!”, “he runs with bravura over the variations, and was greeted with thunderous applause”). In 2019 Julian played at the concert series “Young Excellence in Concert” in Salzburg, organised by the Mozarteum University in cooperation with the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz. Same year he played a recital in Bressanone, Italy, participated in a RAI TV broadcast playing works by Paganini and Bartok, and took part in the intensive chamber music week at the International Music Academy in Liechtenstein under the guidance of Marc Bouchkov and Filippo Gorini.
Julian only took part in one violin competition when he was ten-year-old, the Austrian competition for young musicians “Prima la Musica”, where he was awarded 1st prize. From age of eight to twelve he studied violin with Prof. Dora Schwarzberg. At the age of thirteen, he was admitted to Prof. Boris Kuschnir’s class at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz, Austria. Since 2023 he is a student of Marc Bouchkov at the Conservatoire Royal de Liège in Belgium.
Julian is a scholarship holder of the International Academy of Music in Liechtenstein.
