Johannes Pramsohler

Violin / Director / Conductor

https://www.johannespramsohler.com

Johannes Pramsohler is widely acclaimed as one of the leading lights in the new generation of Early Music performers. A virtuoso soloist and conductor with an entrepreneurial mind, Johannes leads his own award-winning record label (Audax Records) and directs his own Ensemble Diderot which can be anything in size from a trio, to a chamber orchestra and chorus with soloists. He approaches programming and collaborations with the same inventive spirit bringing a joyful sense of adventure to his music-making. Johannes is also a sought-after educator holding a PhD in Historically Informed Performance from the Royal Academy of Music as well as speaking no less than five languages.

As concertmaster, Johannes has collaborated with Concerto Melante (members and guests of the Berliner Philharmoniker on historical instruments), Le Concert d’Astrée, Concerto Köln, the European Union Baroque Orchestra, the International Baroque Players, The Kings Consort and The Niedersächsische Staatsorchester Hannover. As a soloist, Johannes has performed with the Budapest Festival Orchestra and Ivan Fischer, the Taiwan Baroque Orchestra, Helsingin Barokkiorkesteri (Helsinki Baroque Orchestra), and Darmstädter Barocksolisten and as a conductor, Johannes directed more than thirty performances of Purcell: Dido and Aeneas throughout France and a critically acclaimed production of the opera Croesus by Reinhard Keiser at the Théâtre de l‘Athénée in Paris. His most recent conducting engagements took him to Buenos Aires for a staged production of Handel: Theodora at the Teatro Colón and to Innsbruck for Beethoven symphonies with the Tiroler Symphonieorchester (Tyrolean Symphony Orchestra). Upcoming conducting engagements include Barokkanerne in Oslo for Mozart symphonies and piano concertos, and other touring with his own Ensemble Diderot includes appearances at Berliner Philharmonie, Opéra de Lille, The Hague, Opéra de Rouen, Auditorium di Milano Fondazione Cariplo: Largo Gustav Mahler, Kölner Philharmonie and tours through Austria, Germany, Italy and France.

Of Ensemble Diderot’s 2024 production of Purcell: Dido & Aeneas, conducted by Johannes, Forum Opera wrote ‘Johannes Pramsohler leads everyone with great precision’ and of the ensemble ‘We have admired the beautiful sounds of the strings of his ensemble’.

Born in South Tyrol and now living in Paris, Baroque violinist Johannes Pramsohler brings to life unknown repertoire with a keen sense for significant rarities. Ensemble Diderot is currently resident at the Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles in Paris and at the Euregio Cultural Centre Toblach, Italy in the beautiful South Tyrol area - the subject of a recent ‘Musical Destinations’ feature in BBC Music Magazine.

Exaudet Violin Concerto (II. Largo) | Johannes Pramsohler & Ensemble Diderot

​A desire for artistic independence even in the recording studio led Johannes to found his own record label in 2013. The catalog of Audax Records is largely made up of first recordings, many of which have been awarded prizes including the Diapason d’Or, the German Record Critics’ Award (Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik), Gramophone Editor’s Choice and BBC Music Magazine Chamber Choice. Johannes and Ensemble Diderot collected an International Classical Music Award for winning Baroque album Sonate a quattro. Most recent recording, Berlin Harpsichord Concertos was awarded a double 5-star rating by BBC Music Magazine ("an absorbingly interesting album, stylishly played and with a lively feeling for subtle nuance”) and a ‘Recommended Recording’ from MusicWeb International.

Upcoming recordings and touring programmes for Ensemble Diderot include Arias for Bass by Handel, Vivaldi, Monteverdi with Nahuel Di Pierro (release date Winter 2024), Arias by Mozart and contemporaries with soprano Adriana González (recording May 2024 for release early 2025) and Telemann: Complete Quintets (recording winter 2024/2025 for release 2025).

As an in-demand pedagogue, Johannes teaches at the Summer Academy of the Festival du Périgord Noir and regularly gives masterclasses at the Chinese Culture University in Taipei, the Shanghai Conservatory, the Norwegian Academy of Music, and the Instituto Superior de Arte del Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires. Johannes studied violin at the Conservatory “C. Monteverdi” in Bozen, at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, and at the Paris Conservatoire CRR with teachers such as Georg Egger, Jack Glickman, and Rachel Podger. A postgraduate diploma in historically informed performance at the Mozarteum Salzburg and his collaboration with Reinhard Goebel are important sources of inspiration for his work. Johannes plays on a violin made in 1713 by Pietro Giacomo Rogeri.

For further projects and for print, please download Johannes’ full biography.