Biography
Indira Koch
Indira Koch received her first violin lessons at the age of four from her mother and won her first youth music prizes in Germany and Switzerland just a few years later. In 1989, she began her studies at the Menuhin Academy in Gstaad with Alberto Lysy, continuing her education at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia with Aaron Rosand and at the Juilliard School in New York with Robert Mann, primarius of the Juilliard String Quartet. In addition, Indira Koch gained valuable artistic insights through masterclasses with renowned artists such as Igor Oistrakh, Yehudi Menuhin, Miriam Fried, Franco Gulli, Rainer Kussmaul, and Josef Silberstein.
During her studies, Indira Koch attracted attention at numerous international competitions: among others, she was awarded first prize at the International Violin Competition “Città di Stresa” in Italy. In 1997, she won the prestigious Artist International Award in New York. This success was accompanied by a critically acclaimed debut concert at Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall in New York. Concert tours have taken Indira Koch throughout Europe, India, Japan, as well as North and South America.
As a soloist, she has performed with orchestras including the Hamburg Symphony, the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra, the Canberra Symphony Orchestra, the INSO Lviv, and the Romanian National Philharmonic under conductors such as Nicholas Milton and Saulius Sondeckis.
She is a regular guest at major festivals, including the Australian Festival of Chamber Music and the Sangat Festival in Mumbai, India.
A passionate chamber musician, she has performed alongside artists such as Gidon Kremer, Julia Fischer, and Mischa Maisky. Concerts have brought her to the Berliner Philharmonie, the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Suntory Hall Tokyo, Carnegie Hall New York, and the National Centre for the Performing Arts Mumbai.
She is Assistant Concertmaster at the Deutsche Oper Berlin as well as Artistic Director and Concertmaster of the chamber orchestra Metamorphosen Berlin, which she founded and with whom she has released three critically acclaimed recordings for Sony Classical. She has also served as guest concertmaster with numerous prominent orchestras, such as the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, the Staatskapelle Berlin, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, and the Hamburg State Opera.
Indira Koch is a member of the Gropius Quartet and the ensemble Klangrausch – the art of string trio.
