Prof. Axel Strauss

Axel Strauss is a German violinist whose international career spans solo and chamber music performances, recording, and teaching. He won the International Naumburg Violin Award in New York in 1998 and subsequently made his American debut at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., and his New York debut at Alice Tully Hall. Since then, he has appeared widely as a recitalist and chamber musician and has performed as soloist with orchestras in Bucharest, Budapest, Cincinnati, Hamburg, New York, San Francisco, Seoul and Shanghai, among others. He has also served as guest concertmaster of the Berlin Philharmonic and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra.

Axel Strauss’ discography features releases on various labels—most notably multiple recordings for Naxos, including George Enescu’s complete works for violin and piano and Pierre Rode’s 24 Caprices for solo violin. As part of his deep commitment to contemporary music, he has premiered and recorded works written for him by composers Kurt Rohde and Chris Paul Harman and was the violinist in the world premiere performance and recording of “Two Awakenings and a Double Lullaby” by Pulitzer Prize–winning composer Aaron Jay Kernis.

Axel Strauss earned his Diploma and Concert Exam at the Music Academy Rostock, studying with Petru Munteanu. He completed his studies at The Juilliard School in New York with Dorothy DeLay and then served as her teaching assistant as a fellow of the Starling–DeLay Institute in Violin Studies.

In his long teaching career, Axel Strauss has held professorships at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and at McGill University in Montreal, where he was recognized with the McGill Teaching Award, and where he also served as String Area Coordinator. He has taught at numerous summer programs and festivals, including Encore Music Festival, Kneisel Hall and Le Domaine Forget. Most recently, he became the Artistic Director of the Summer Masterclasses at Kloster Schöntal in Germany.

Axel Strauss on YouTube

Axel Strauss on Naxos