Violinist NADJA SALERNO-SONNENBERG is celebrated worldwide as one of the most original and fearless artists on the concert stage today. Renowned for her electrifying performances, passionate interpretations, and musical depth, she is sought after by today’s greatest conductors and orchestras, as well as by fellow artists for collaborations in classical and other genres.
Following the 2005 EMI Classics re-issue of her acclaimed recording of Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto No. 1, honoring the composer’s upcoming 100th birthday anniversary, and Samuel Barber’s Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg can be heard playing both works in concert throughout the current season, beginning with her 2005 summer performances at prestigious U.S. music festivals. She continues her highly successful collaboration with the duo guitarists the Assads, and performs Sérgio Assad’s Concerto Originis, written for her and the two brothers, with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. With pianist Anne-Marie McDermott, she tours in recital in March and April 2006.
Considered a groundbreaker in the recording field, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg continues to remain on the cutting edge with the creation of her own record label, NSS MUSIC (nssmusic.com). The label was launched in Summer 2005 with two live recordings: a recital CD recorded at New York’s Merkin Hall, featuring Salerno-Sonnenberg with pianist McDermott; and an album featuring Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto and Clarice Assad’s Violin Concerto, with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra and conductor Marin Alsop. With more than 20 recordings to her credit, Salerno-Sonnenberg has also received critical acclaim for several “crossover” discs: a self-titled recording of gypsy music from Eastern Europe with the Assads; Humoresque, a CD of music from the 1947 film; and It Ain’t Necessarily So, which includes works by Gershwin, Kreisler, and Scott Joplin, among others.
She has appeared as the subject of a 2000 Academy Award-nominated documentary film on her life, entitled Speaking In Strings.
Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg’s professional career began in 1981 when she won the Walter W. Naumburg International Violin Competition. In 1983 she was recognized with an Avery Fisher Career Grant, and in 1988 she was Ovation’s Debut Recording Artist of the Year. In 1999 she was honored with the Avery Fisher Prize, and in May of that same year, Salerno-Sonnenberg was awarded an honorary Masters of Musical Arts from the New Mexico State University, the first honorary degree the University has ever awarded. Her extended background information can be obtained via her website at nadjasalernosonnenberg.com. An American citizen, Salerno-Sonnenberg was born in Rome and emigrated to the United States at the age of eight to study at the Curtis Institute of Music. She later studied with Dorothy DeLay at The Juilliard School.