Lebenslauf

Rahel Maria Rilling ist eine international gefragte vielseitige Geigerin und Künstlerin. Sie entstammt einer renommierten Musikerfamilie und erhielt ihren ersten Geigenunterricht im Alter von vier Jahren. Ihr Vater Helmuth Rilling, Dirigent und Bach-Spezialist beeinflusste sie schon in frühen Jahren.

Als Solistin spielte sie mit diversen Orchestern, wie dem Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano, dem Stuttgarter Kammerorchester, dem Elbphilharmonieorchester Hamburg, der Südwestdeutschen Philharmonie Konstanz sowie dem von Gustavo Dudamel geleiteten Orquesta Sinfonica Simon Bolivar in Caracas / Venezuela.

Sie war Gast beim Sarasota Music Festival in Florida, dem Santander Festival in Spanien oder dem Oregon Bach Festival in USA. Bach’s Solosonaten führten sie zuletzt nach NYC und Chicago wo sie gemeinsam mit dem Vokalensemble New York Polyphony auftrat.

Ihr Solo-Debut Album mit allen 6 Bach Sonaten für Violine und Klavier erschien im November 2021 beim Label Hänssler Classic mit Johannes Roloff am Klavier.

2006 gründete Rahel Rilling ihr eigenes Kammermusik Festival Hohenstaufen, das seither jeden Herbst in der Nähe von Stuttgart stattfindet. ( www.hohenstaufen-festival.de ) Das daraus entstandene „Hohenstaufen Ensemble“ gastiert auf der ganzen Welt. Im Februar 2023 hat das Hohenstaufen Ensemble bereits die 2. CD mit Werken ihres jüdischen Urgroßvaters Robert Kahn bei Hänssler Classic herausgebracht.

Zu ihren Kammermusikpartnern zählen neben vielen anderen Sir Simon Rattle und seine Frau Magdalena Kožena. Mit beiden ist die CD Soirée beim Label Pentatone erschienen.

Neben der so genannten E-Musik gilt ihr Interesse aber auch Jazz, Pop und elektronischer Musik. Bereits mit 14 Jahren trat sie mit der Popgruppe „Bruder“ bei MTV und VIVA auf. Zahlreiche Studioaufnahmen für Bands wie Rosenstolz, Mousse T., Mando Diao, Michael Bublé, Rod Stewart oder Rufus Wainwright folgten.

Sie legt ab und zu als DJ auf und tourte mit der Popgruppe „Prag“ mit Nora Tschirner, außerdem liebt sie Kunst und Kabarett, trat mit Ute Lemper und dem Künstler Ari Benjamin Myers am Broadway auf, mit Katharina Thalbach, den Geschwister Pfistern und Pigor im Tipi und der Bar jeder Vernunft auf.

Zahlreiche Auftritte mit der international bekannten Gruppe „Salut Salon“ erweiterten ihre Künste im Sägenspiel, Gesang, Schauspiel, und im Moderieren in verschiedenen Sprachen.

Rahel engagiert sich zunehmend dafür junges Publikum für Klassik zu begeistern: Zusammen mit 2 israelischen Künstlern gründete sie die Konzertreihe „Prelude Concerts“ in Berlin, die sich Kammermusik für und mit Kindern widmet.

Gemeinsam mit der Schauspielerin Claudia Wiedemer vertonte sie in einer musikalischen Lesung für Kinder die beiden Bücher „Momo“ und „Die unendliche Geschichte“ von Michael Ende mit Violine, Gesang und einem Loop Gerät.

Sie ist Gründungsmitglied des Streichquartett DIE NIXEN , dessen Repertoire selbst arrangierte Bearbeitungen von Jazz- und Popstücken, sowie neu komponierte Werke umfasst. In ihrem neuesten Projekt kreieren DIE NIXEN das Mini-Musical OCEANKIDS. Auf fantasievolle Weise wird die Umweltthematik mit Klassik, Rap und dem Austausch der Kulturen verbunden. Buch und Hörbuch – gelesen von Katharina Thalbach – werden 2024 beim Überreuter Verlag erscheinen.

Rahel Rilling lebt mit ihrer Familie und 2 Kindern in Berlin.


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Rahel Maria Rilling is an internationally sought-after, versatile violinist and artist. She comes from a renowned family of musicians.

As a soloist, Rahel Rilling has played with various orchestras, such as the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano, the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, the Elbphilharmonie Orchestra Hamburg, the Südwestdeutsche Philharmonie Konstanz and the Orquesta Sinfonica Simon Bolivar in Caracas/Venezuela conducted by Gustavo Dudamel. She has been a guest at the Sarasota Music Festival in Florida and the Santander Festival in Spain.

Her solo album with all 6 Bach sonatas for violin and piano was released in November 2021 on the Hänssler Classic label with Johannes Roloff on the piano. Recitals with all 6 Bach sonatas followed in the Haus am Waldsee in Berlin and at the 20fastforward Festival in the Kontor performance space in Erfurt, Germany. Pure Bach.

In 2006, Rahel Rilling founded the Chamber Music Festival Hohenstaufen, which has taken place near Stuttgart every autumn since then. ( www.hohenstaufen-festival.de ).

The resulting Hohenstaufen Ensemble makes guest appearances all over the world, playing chamber music with artists such as Jeffrey Kahane, Avi Avital and Jörg Widmann at venues such as the international Thüringer Bachwochen and the Jerusalem Arts Festival. The Hohenstaufen Ensemble has recorded two CDs, each featuring several works by Rahel’s jewish great- grandfather Robert Kahn. ( Robert Kahn - Trailer ).

Rahel Rilling’s chamber music partners also include Sir Simon Rattle and his wife Magdalena Kožena. The CD Soirée with them was released on the Pentatone label in 2019. A subsequent tour took her to Lincoln Center in New York, La Scala in Milan, Wigmore Hall in London, the Teatro del Liceu in Barcelona, the Legion D'honneur in Paris and the Isarphilharmonie in Munich.

In addition to so-called serious music, Rilling is also interested in jazz, pop, experimental and electronic music. She DJs occasionally and is a member of the string quartet DIE NIXEN (The Mermaids), whose repertoire includes settings of jazz and pop pieces that she has arranged herself, as well as newly composed works.

Rahel also performs as a member of the internationally renowned group SALUT SALON. With Salut Salon she not only plays the violin but also the musical saw, she sings and moderates in various languages. In recent years, concert tours have taken the group through France, Italy, Holland, Portugal and Tunisia. Most recently they were invited by Antonio Banderás to his Teatro del Soho in Malága, Spain.

A collaboration with director Frederic Wake-Walker led her to a performance in Paris for the haute-couture fashion brand Hermes: "Nature at Full Gallop" was created with performance artists, masters of ceremonies, dancers, light and sound designers and instrumentalists to create a surreal world for visitors to Park Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Hermès “Nature at full gallop”.

Rahel Rilling was a guest with the two artists Sonja-Lena Schmid and Anne von Twardowski for their project RAUSCHEN, which combines chamber music and electronics. The concert took place on the site of a former Jewish temple, where only the original building fassade remains and Autohaus Stern now rents its premises. Four instrumentalists were involved, along with the John Neumeier National Youth Ballet and the electronic trio Plastiq. TEMPELRAUSCHEN Rahel is increasingly committed to getting young audiences interested in classical music: together with the actress Claudia Wiedemer she was invited to the festival "Wege durch das Land", curated by Helene Grass. There she set the two books "Momo" and "The Neverending Story" by Michael Ende to music with violin, voice and a loop device, in a musical reading for children.

During the pandemic, Rahel Rilling received a grant from the GVL to develop her latest project: with her string quartet DIE NIXEN, she created the mini musical OCEANKIDS. In an imaginative way, environmental issues are combined with classical music, rap and intercultural exchange. The accompanying audio book - read by Katharina Thalbach - will be published by Ueberreuter Verlag.

Rahel Rilling lives and works in Berlin. She plays a violin made in 1767 by Tomaso Balestrieri, Cremona, Italy.

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Rahel Maria Rilling is an internationally sought-after, versatile violinist and artist. She comes from a renowned family of musicians and received her first violin lessons at the age of four. Her father, noted conductor and Bach specialist Helmuth Rilling, influenced her from an early age. The cantatas, passions and masses of Johann Sebastian Bach accompanied her as a small child, and as a young girl she toured all over the world with her father's ensemble. Bach's works have taken her to the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires and the Teatro del Lago in Chile.
Every year the family traveled to the USA for the Oregon Bach Festival and spent the summer there with renowned musicians from Los Angeles, San Francisco and from all over the world. There were also tours to Russia, Europe, Korea and China.

From 2005 to 2008, Rahel Rilling had a leadership position in the violin section of the NDR Elbphilharmonie Symphony Orchestra in Hamburg. Since that time, Rilling has been performing with the world’s leading conductors as a free-lance artist in orchestras and ensembles throughout Germany, including with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. Her latest album with all 6 Bach sonatas for violin and piano was released in November 2021 on the Hänssler Classic label with Johannes Roloff on the piano. Recitals with all 6 Bach sonatas followed in the Haus am Waldsee in Berlin and at the 20fastforward Festival in the Kontor performance space in Erfurt, Germany.

In 2006, Rahel Rilling founded the Chamber Music Festival Hohenstaufen, which has taken place near Stuttgart every autumn since then. ( www.hohenstaufen-festival.de ) The resulting Hohenstaufen Ensemble makes guest appearances all over the world, playing chamber music with artists such as Jeffrey Kahane, Avi Avital and Jörg Widmann at venues such as the international Thüringer Bachwochen and the Jerusalem Arts Festival. The Hohenstaufen ensemble has recorded two CDs, each featuring several works by Rahel’s jewish great- grandfather Robert Kahn.

Rahel Rilling’s chamber music partners also include Sir Simon Rattle and his wife Magdalena Kožena. The CD Soirée with them was released on the Pentatone label in 2019. A subsequent tour took her to Lincoln Center in New York, La Scala in Milan, Wigmore Hall in London, the Teatro del Liceu in Barcelona, the Legion D'honneur in Paris and the Isarphilharmonie in Munich.

In addition to so-called serious music, Rilling is also interested in jazz, pop, experimental and electronic music. She DJs occasionally and is a member of the string quartet DIE NIXEN (The Mermaids), whose repertoire includes settings of jazz and pop pieces that she has arranged herself, as well as newly composed works. She also loves art and cabaret, has appeared on Broadway with Ute Lemper and the artist Ari Benjamin Myers, with noted German actress Katharina Thalbach,and cabarettists the Geschwister Pfister, and Pigor. Rahel also performs as a member of the internationally renowned group Salut Salon. With Salut Salon she not only plays the violin but also plays the musical saw, sings and moderates in various languages. In recent years, concert tours have taken the group through France, Italy, Holland, Portugal and Tunisia. Most recently they were invited by Antonio Banderás to his Teatro del Soho in Malága, Spain.

As a soloist, Rahel Rilling has played with various orchestras, such as the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano, the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, the Elbphilharmonie Orchestra Hamburg, the Südwestdeutsche Philharmonie Konstanz and the Orquesta Sinfonica Simon Bolivar in Caracas/Venezuela conducted by Gustavo Dudamel. She has been a guest at the Sarasota Music Festival in Florida and the Santander Festival in Spain. Bach's solo sonatas took her to New York City and Chicago, where she performed with the vocal ensemble New York Polyphony.

A collaboration with director Frederic Wake-Walker led her to a performance in Paris for the haute-couture fashion brand Hermes: "Nature at Full Gallop" was created with performance artists, masters of ceremonies, dancers, light and sound designers and instrumentalists to create a surreal world for visitors to Park Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Rahel Rilling was a guest with the two artists Sonja-Lena Schmid and Anne von Twardowski for their project RAUSCHEN, which combines chamber music and electronics. The concert took place on the site of a former Jewish temple, where only the original building fassade remains and Autohaus Stern now rents its premises. Four instrumentalists were involved, along with the John Neumeier National Youth Ballet and the electronic trio Plastiq.

Rahel is increasingly committed to getting young audiences interested in classical music: together with the actress Claudia Wiedemer she was invited to the festival "Wege durch das Land", curated by Helene Grass. There she set the two books "Momo" and "The Neverending Story" by Michael Ende to music with violin, voice and a loop device, in a musical reading for children.

During the pandemic, Rahel Rilling received a grant from the GVL to develop her latest project: with her string quartet DIE NIXEN (Rahel Rilling and Katharina Wildhagen violins, Kristina Menzel-Labitzke viola, Nikola Spingler cello) she created the mini musical OCEANKIDS. In an imaginative way, environmental issues are combined with classical music, rap and intercultural exchange. The accompanying audio book - read by Katharina Thalbach - will be published by Ueberreuter Verlag.

Rahel Rilling lives and works in Berlin. She plays a violin made in 1767 by Tomaso Balestrieri, Cremona, Italy.

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