Emerson/Harris Masterclass: Augustin Hadelich, violin

About the Artist

Augustin Hadelich is one of the great violinists of our time. Known for his phenomenal technique, insightful and persuasive interpretations, and ravishing tone, he appears extensively on the world’s foremost concert stages. Hadelich has performed with all the major American orchestras as well as the Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic, and many other eminent ensembles.

In the 2025-26 season, Hadelich is artist in residence with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, where he will be featured in concerto, chamber music, and solo violin recital formats in Boston and at Tanglewood. He also appears with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, Houston Symphony, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, San Diego Symphony, New World Symphony, and the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa. Further invitations bring him to the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Staatskapelle Dresden, Bamberg Symphony, DSO Berlin, Munich Philharmonic, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, Vienna Symphony, WDR Radio Symphony Cologne, Festival Strings Lucerne, Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Barcelona Symphony, BBC Philharmonic, Belgian National Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic, Finnish Radio Symphony, NCPA Orchestra Beijing, Orchestre National de Lyon, and Sao Paulo Symphony. In April 2026, he will be in residence at the Tongyeong International Music Festival in South Korea. Recitals take him to New York, Boston, San Francisco, Seattle, Warsaw, Copenhagen, Graz, Heidelberg, Cremona, and Taipei. Hadelich’s discography reflects his stylistic versatility and encompasses much of the violin repertoire.

In 2016, he received a Grammy Award for his recording of Dutilleux’s Violin Concerto L’Arbre des songes with the Seattle Symphony and Ludovic Morlot. A Warner Classics Artist, his most recent album, American Road Trip, a journey through the landscape of American music with pianist Orion Weiss, was released in August 2024 and was awarded an Opus Klassik in 2025 for Chamber Music Recording of the Year. Other albums for Warner Classics include Paganini’s 24 Caprices (2018); Brahms and Ligeti violin concertos (2019); the Grammy-nominated Bohemian Tales, which includes the Dvořak Violin Concerto with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Jakub Hrůša (2020); the Grammy-nominated recording of Bach’s complete sonatas and partitas (2021); and Recuerdos, a Spain-themed album featuring works by Sarasate, Tarrega, Prokofiev, and Britten (2022).

Augustin Hadelich, a dual American-German citizen born in Italy to German parents, rose to fame when he won the Gold Medal at the 2006 International Violin Competition of Indianapolis. Further distinctions followed, including an Avery Fisher Career Grant (2009), the UK’s Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship (2011), and an honorary doctorate from the University of Exeter in the UK (2017). In 2018, Musical America named him Instrumentalist of the Year. Hadelich holds an Artist Diploma from the Juilliard School, where he studied with Joel Smirnoff, and in 2021, was appointed to the violin faculty at Yale School of Music. He plays a 1744 violin by Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesu, known as “Leduc, ex Szeryng,” on loan from the Tarisio Trust.

About the Emerson/Harris Program for Private Study

Support for private musical study is available for students through the Emerson/Harris Program (E/HP), which offers merit-based financial awards for outstanding achievement on instruments or voice in classical, jazz, or world music. Each academic year, the program awards Scholarships and Fellowships to nearly seventy students who commit to a full year’s study and participate in the musical life of MIT.

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