Violist Nils Mönkemeyer signs with IMG Artists

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IMG Artists has announced the signing of violist Nils Mönkemeyer to its roster for general management. He will be represented by senior vice president Elena Kostova from the company’s London office.

’A classical music representative is so much more than a booking agent, as they tend to shape our lives in many ways, and I am beyond excited to join IMG Artists to pursue my musical journey together with the incredible Elena Kostova as my general manager and Bibi Thomas-Gandara as my assistant,’ said Mönkemeyer. ’I look forward to the future with great excitement for everything that is to come.’

Kostova said, ’For a long time, I have the deepest appreciation for Nils’s artistic qualities which are of the highest calibre and versatility which have righteously earned his reputation as one of the world’s leading violists. In addition, Nils’s deep commitment to innovative programming, enthusiasm for pedagogy and strong collaborative approach are features which have secured him a special place within classical music community.’

Mönkemeyer’s recent and forthcoming highlights include performances at major international venues such as Wigmore Hall London, Musikverein Vienna, LAC Lugano, Pierre Boulez Saal Berlin, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Prinzregententheater Munich and Alte Oper Frankfurt, as well as to festivals such as Schubertiade, Menuhin Festival Gstaad, Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Kissinger Sommer, Schwetzinger SWR Festspiele and Mozartfest Würzburg. 

Further season highlights include collaborations with the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester, Orchestra della Svizzera italiana, Wroclaw Philharmonic and – together with Alina Ibragimova – Kammerorchester Basel. Special chamber music projects of the 2023/24 season include trio concerts with Sabine Meyer and William Youn; the project Viola Latina! with Rubén Dubrovsky and Bach Consort Vienna, as well as a tour with the Julia Fischer Quartet to London, Zurich, Madrid, Prague, Berlin, and Munich, among others.

Mönkemeyer’s programmes run the gamut from rediscoveries and first recordings of original 18th-century viola literature to contemporary repertoire and arrangements of his own. His recent album Dance for Two, released in spring 2023 with recorder player Dorothee Oberlinger, brings together works from over a thousand years of music history, mostly in their own arrangements for this special instrumentation.

He founded the chamber music festival ’Klassik für Alle’ in 2016 in collaboration with the charity Caristas Bonn, which aims to make music accessible to disadvantaged people.

Mönkemeyer has been a professor at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Munich since 2011. He plays a viola made by Philipp Augustin.

Playing

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Calendars

American collector David L. Fulton amassed one of the 20th century’s finest collections of stringed instruments. This year’s calendar pays tribute to some of these priceless treasures, including Yehudi Menuhin’s celebrated ‘Lord Wilton’ Guarneri, the Carlo Bergonzi once played by Fritz Kreisler, and four instruments by Antonio Stradivari.