- From: Ingolstadt, Germany
- Residence: Frankfurt, Germany
- Web: http://www.rolandglassl.de
- Language: English, German
- E-Mail: roland@alpenkammermusik.org
Critical Acclaim:
The new century's new talent (one of) the stars of the next decade.
Strad Magazine
Roland Glassl, viola
Violist Roland Glassl has been called the "New century's new talent (one of) the stars of the next decade," according to "The Strad" magazine headline. Mr. Glassl gained international recognition after he won First Prize at the prestigious 1997 Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition in Isle of Man, where he also received the "Peter Schidlof Prize" as "Finalist with the most beautiful tone." Following these honors, Mr. Glassl has performed regularly to highest acclaim at London's Wigmore Hall.
Roland Glassl was born in Germany, into a luthier's family with a tradition of many generations of violin making. His father made his viola and was also his first violin teacher. Later, Mr. Glassl continued his studies at the music conservatory of Munich where he received an artist diploma with distinction. He came to the United States to study violin with Paul Biss and viola with Atar Arad at Indiana University where he earned his Artist Diploma and a Performer Diploma in 1998 and 1999.
In the 2004/2005 season, Roland Glassl performed concerts in Vancouver, Chicago (Arts at Argonne), Tel Aviv (Haifa Museum), Edinburgh (Usher Hall), Barcelona and Lyon. Earlier engagements included his performances as soloist and chamber musician at London's Conway Hall and Wigmore Hall, broadcast live by BBC 3 London. He participated at the Enescu Festival in Bucharest, the Edinburgh Festival, England, the Festival of Montpellier, France, Schubert Festival in Stuttgart, and the Brahms Festival in Hamburg, Germany. In the United States, Mr. Glassl was featured in Dallas, in Washington, DC including a broadcast on NPR Performance Today, and in Chicago's Preston Bradley Hall, which was broadcast live on WFMT Fine Arts Radio.
Other recent highlights in the United States include a live broadcast of his solo recital at the International Viola Congress in Seattle. At the Ravinia Festival, he was the featured artist in the "Rising Stars" series in 2002 for which he received rave reviews. He has also performed at the Caramoor Festival and appeared with the Avalon String Quartet.
Mr. Glassl has appeared as orchestral soloist under Maestro Sir Colin Davis at the Prinzregenten Theater in Munich. He has also been a soloist with the State Orchestra of the Wiener Volksoper in Vienna, and the Austrian Tonkuenstler Orchestra. His appearances with major German orchestras have been broadcast live by German radio stations. Roland Glassl has collaborated with Leon Fleischer, Miriam Fried, Walter Nothas, and Atar Arad, Michael Tree, Shigeo Neriki, the Avalon and the Henschel String Quartets. In 1999, Mr. Glassl became a new member of the Mandelring Quartet and since then, tours regularly with them throughout Europe.
In addition to his First Prize at the Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition, Mr. Glassl has won First Prize at the 2000 Washington, D.C. International Competition for Strings; First Prize at the 1999 Viola Competition of the German Viola Society, Second Prize at the 1999 Primrose Viola Competition in Guelph/Canada, and top prize at the 1998 International Viola Competition in Vienna, Austria.
Mr. Glassl resides in Germany and holds master classes in London, Canada, Germany and Finland. Since 2004, he is professor for viola at the "Musikhochschule Frankfurt" as successor of Tabea Zimmermann.
