Profile

Erik Schumann, born in Cologne in 1982 as the son of German / Romanian-Japanese parents, is frequently invited to perform as a soloist with orchestras in Europe, Asia and the USA, among them are the NDR Symphonic Orchestras Hamburg / Hanover, Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig, Dusseldorf Symphony Orchestra, the Vienna and the Zurich Chamber Orchestras, Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, Orchestre de Paris, Orchestre National de France, Sinfonia Varsovia, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Kyoto Symphony Orchestra as well as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the National Symphony Orchestra Washington.

Conductors he worked with include Christoph Eschenbach, Gianandrea Noseda, Jiri Belohlavek and Vassily Sinaisky.Erik Schumann has performed in numerous important concert halls, including the Prince Regent’s Theatre Munich, the Philharmonie in Cologne, Gewandhaus Leipzig, Konzerthaus Vienna, Tonhalle Zurich, Victoria Hall Geneva, Musikhalle Hamburg, Stadtcasino Basel, Suntory Hall Tokio, Seoul Arts Center, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Salle Pleyel Paris as well as the Louvre.Last season, Erik Schumann played as the soloist of the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra (Leos Svarovsky), the Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra on a tour throughout Brazil, and at Kennedy Center, Washington D. C., as the soloist of the National Symphony Orchestra.Upcoming highlights include his debut with the NHK Symphony Orchestra Tokyo, concerts with the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra and his re-invitations to the Orchestre de Paris and the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra.Since the beginning of his musical career, Erik Schumann has won several awards: First prize at the 7th International Wieniawski-Lipinski Violin Competition in Lublin, Poland, prize winner at the Jacques Thibaud International Violin Competition (2002) and at the Shlomo-Mintz Violin Competition Sion, Switzerland (2003).

Erik Schumann received a grant from the “German National Academic Foundation” as well as from the “Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben”. In 2004 he was honoured with the Bernstein Award of the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival.He took part in such important festivals as the Salzburg Easter Festival, Kissinger Sommer, Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, Mozart-Fest Schwetzingen, Rheingau Music Festival and the Ravinia Music Festival Chicago. Elena Bashkirova invited him to join the International Jerusalem Chamber Music Festival in 2009.As a chamber musician Erik Schumann works with partners such as the Tokyo String Quartet, Claudio Bohorquez, Markus Groh and Henri Sigfridsson. Together with Nicolas Altstaedt and Peter von Wienhardt he forms the AbsoluTrio. At the Kronberg Academy 2004 he played with Juri Bashmet, Gidon Kremer and Daniel Hope. Alongside Lars Vogt, he supports the project “Rhapsody in School”.In May 2008 he performed a duo recital with Christoph Eschenbach at Ooji Hall, Tokyo.Also in May 2008, Erik Schumann’s debut-CD, featuring Sergei Prokofiev’s duo sonatas (Henri Sigfridsson, piano), has been published for the Avi Music label. By now it has been celebrated as an outstanding debut by the press.His musical development has been decisively influenced by Zakhar Bron, with whom Erik Schumann was studying at the Cologne Conservatory. Moreover, he has attended master classes with Pinchas Zukerman, Miriam Fried, Shlomo Mintz, Hermann Krebbers and György Pauk.

Currently he is teaching as professor at Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Frankfurt.

Discography