When, where and what did you play the first time with the English Concert?

It was a few months before I started my work as a leader in 2007. It must have been Andrew Manze’s last concert as a violinist with the orchestra and he invited me as the principal second violin for a concert at the Handel Festspiele in Halle. The piece I most remember from that programme wasn’t by Handel though, it was “Ach dass ich Wassers gnug hätte” by Johann Christoph Bach with Michael Chance as the alto soloist.

What has been your most memorable TEC concert and why?

It was probably our performance of Bach’s B Minor Mass in the Thomaskirche in Leipzig. It was my very first violin solo for the Laudamus Te and to play it where Bach would have stood was an amazing experience. Now that I live in Leipzig the Thomaskirche has become very familiar as it has become the church where I attend the services with my children when I am back home. To listen to the Thomanerchor there, to sing all those chorals throughout the church year with the “Gemeinde” and sometimes even play the violin means a lot to me, but I will never forget that first b minor mass!

What’s one of your favourite pieces of music and why?

Same as last question: Bach’s B Minor Mass. The piece has accompanied me through some very emotional and sometimes difficult moments in my life and its structure, variety of styles, emotional width, sensuality in colours and atmospheres and the inner journey give me great emotional stability and mental balance every time I play it.

Do you have a secret interest or hobby that would surprise people?

I don’t think it is very secret if you write it down here… I enjoy doing yoga, love cooking for my family and on tour I like going to art museums and exhibitions. I used to be into dancing tango, but stopped after I had children as I was constantly too tired. I might take it up again soon though, but need some lessons to retrieve my buried knowledge of it first!

Biography

German born violinist Nadja Zwiener studied in Berlin and at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, where she specialised in historical performance practice of music from the 17th to the 19th century. 

After having played with various British, French, Belgian and German Early music ensembles, Nadja was appointed leader of The English Concert in 2007, with whom she has toured Europe, the US and Asia. She also appears as concerto soloist and directs programmes from the violin. Nadja particularly enjoys working with singers and creating interesting chamber music programmes that might go as far as combining Early Music with improvised, electronic or even contemporary music.

As a Thuringian living in Leipzig, Nadja Zwiener feels particularly at home with the music of Bach. She was the concertmaster at the Bachakademie Stuttgart from 2016 to 2022, where she helped in building up the Gaechinger Cantorey orchestra on original instruments.

Her first solo CD Senza Basso- Auf dem Weg zu Bach was released in 2021 on the Leipzig label Genuin, followed two years later by the recording 1723 with Johannes Lang for Ramée. Both recordings were enthusiastically received by the press. This led to the formation of a new early music ensemble at St. Thomas Church in Leipzig, the Collegium Musicum ’23. Their first recording, The Art of Fugue on Bach’s Original Instruments, will be released in Spring 2025 (Ramée).

Nadja plays a violin by David Tecchler (Rome 1723).