Bio

From early baroque to contemporary music, German violinist Thomas Reif is equally sought after for his work as soloist, concertmaster and chamber musician. As of 2018 he is 1st coordinated concertmaster of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. As a soloist, Mr. Reif performed with the Orchestre Royal de Chambre de Wallonie, the National Orchestra of Belgium, the Münchener Rundfunkorchester, the Las Vegas Philharmonic Orchestra, the Symphony Orchestra of Carinthia and the Salzburg Chamber Soloists under the batons of Marin Alsop, Donato Cabrera, Paul Meyer, Garret Keast, Bruno Weil, Ulrich Windfuhr and Douglas Boyd. He gave his debuts in the great halls of Konzerthaus Berlin, Liederhalle Stuttgart, Nürnbergs Meistersingerhalle, Bielefelds Rudolf-Oetker-Halle and the Smith Center Las Vegas.

He was a prize winner at national and international competitions, including the Queen Elisabeth Competiton in Brussels (Laureate, 2015), the International Mozart Competition Salzburg (2. Prize, 2016), the Leopold Mozart Competition in Germany (3rd Prize, 2013), the Elise Meyer Competition in Hamburg/Germany (1st Prize, 2012), the Johannes Brahms Competiton in Pörtschach/Austria (1st Prize, 2010) and the Ruggiero Ricci Competition in Salzburg/Austria (1st Prize, 2009).

On the one hand he loves the early baroque music, which he performs as the first violinist and co-founder of Breath of Zephyr, a group of young, curious musicians. With co-founder and harpsichord player Alexander Gergelyfi he interprets baroque chamber and orchestral music in new and daring ways, combining music and poetry as well as multimedia to make interesting and unexpected programs. On the other hand he spends his time diving into the Golden Age of Argentinian Tango with Cuarteto SolTango, a group that he joined in 2017. In 2021 they released their fourth studio album „Misión Tango“ with Avi-music. Being passionate about chamber music, he regularly appears on festivals such as Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Verbier Festival Academy, Classique Puplinge, Festivo Aschau, Eggenfelden Klassisch and „Harriet and friends“ and played together with Nils Mönkemeyer, Igor Levit, Maximilian Hornung, Clemens Hagen, Alice Sara Ott, Annika Treutler and Julia Hagen.

He has participated in masterclasses with Midori, Prof. Igor Ozim, Ferenc Rados, Prof. Gerhard Schulz, Pamela Franck, Prof. Zakhar Bron and Prof. Christian Altenburger and recieved scholarships of the Alfred-Toepfer-Stiftung Hamburg, the Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes and was awarded the „Ian Stoutzker Prize in Memory of Yehudi Menuhin“ in Salzburg in 2012.

Thomas Reif studied in Salzburg and Hamburg with Prof. Harald Herzl and Prof. Tanja Becker-Bender and earned his masters degree at the Hochschule Hanns Eisler in Berlin with Prof. Stephan Picard. He plays a violin by Pietro Guarneri from 1690.