Hartmut Rohde is one of the leading and most sought after European violists, renowned for his stylistic versatility and rhetorical perceptiveness.
He is especially interested in bringing a historically informed approach to his interpretations of the classical, romantic and contemporary repertories. Among Rohde’s regular chamber music partners are Janine Jansen, Jörg Widmann, Christian Tetzlaff, Kolja Blacher, Paul Meyer, Lars Vogt and David Geringas. He holds a professorship at the University of the Arts Berlin, and is founding member of the renowned Mozart Piano Quartet which undertakes extensive worldwide tours.
Hartmut Rohde served as Principal Conductor and Artistic Director of the NFM Leopoldinum Orchestra in Wroclaw from 2014 to 2017. Highlights of his tenure have included a performance with Giovanni Antonini and Il Giardino Armonico in 2016, and a performance of rare classical viola concertos with Reinhard Goebel. Rohde has also recently conducted the Biel Solothurn Symphony Orchestra and Accademia di Cervo, and continues to develop collaborations with the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra and other chamber ensembles. He has appeared at the Berlin Philharmonie, Pablo Casals Festival in France, Düsseldorf Tonhalle, Festival Wratislawia Cantans, Haydn Festival Schloss Augustusburg among others. Deutschlandradio Kultur broadcast several of these concerts. Rohde has recorded orchestral works by Korngold, Laks, Jarnach and Kilar for the cpo label, to critical acclaim. Particular highlights in 2019 will be performances at the Naantali Festival in Finland and at the Vienna Konzerthaus with the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra, followed by a recording of works by Hans Gál, also for cpo.
As violist, Hartmut Rohde has performed at such prestigious international venues and festivals as Carnegie Hall, Berlin Festival, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, Seoul Arts Center, Le Pont Festival Japan, Ravinia Festival USA, Wigmore Hall, Australian Chamber Music Festival, Spannungen Festival, Moritzburg Festival, Bantry Festival and the International Jerusalem Music Festival. Concerto engagements have included performances with orchestras including Beethoven Orchestra Bonn, NDR Radiophilharmonie, Munich Symphony, Bremen Philharmonic, and Lithuanian and Yerevan philharmonics, as well as the chamber orchestras of Munich, Mannheim and Basel.
Conductors with whom Rohde has collaborated include Kent Nagano, Paavo Järvi, Michael Sanderling, Georg Alexander Albrecht and Massimo Zanetti. He has been written works by such composers as Krzysztof Penderecki, Brett Dean, Nils Sören Eichberg, Krystof Maratka, David Philip Hefti and Olli Mustonen.
Hartmut Rohde has made numerous international radio recordings, as well as recording discs for EMI Classics, Decca, BMG/Sony, MDG, cpo and Naxos. In 2004, he won the Supersonic Award.