The American-Iranian violist Muriel Razavi is one of the most promising musicians of her generation and performs worldwide in various formations and genres of classical music. She was appointed Professor of Viola at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg in 2023, and also teaches at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik Trossingen.
Previously, she held the position of Deputy Principal Viola of the MDR Symphony Orchestra Leipzig and volunteered for two years as a mentor in the mentoringArts programme at Leipzig University of Music and Theatre for the professional preparation of students in the music business.
Muriel Razavi studied with renowned teachers such as Tabea Zimmermann, Nils Mönkemeyer and Tatjana Masurenko. In 2019, she completed her master's studies with Wilfried Strehle at the University of the Arts in Berlin with top marks. She is currently pursuing her PhD at Hamburg University of Music and Theatre under the artistic supervision of Daniel Barenboim, where she is conducting research on re-orientalism in contemporary music by Iranian female composers from the Iranian Female Composers Association.
She is the winner of the international "Washington String Competition" (Washington D.C., 2018), as well as the "Michael Spisak" Competition (Katowice, 2017) and the "Città di Cremona" Competition, held at the 43rd International Viola Congress in 2016. In 2022, she was awarded the "Prize for an Outstanding Program with a Special Social Relevance" at the Dbü Competition for her performance of the viola solo work ancient eve is once again offering apples.
Performing this same piece, she appeared in the 2022/23 season at the Ultraschallfestival Berlin and at the Heidelberger Frühling. She made her debut under the baton of Thorsten Encke with the concerto for viola and orchestra her path through clay and silk, which she commissioned from composer Golfam Khayam. She performs at festivals such as the Schleswig-Holstein Festival, the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival, the Rheingau Music Festival, the Stavelot Festival (Belgium), the Yeosu Festival (South Korea) and the "Semanas Musicales de Frutillar" (Chile), where she also gave a masterclass.
As a member of the West Eastern Divan Orchestra under the direction of Daniel Barenboim and the soloist ensemble "Mutter's Virtuosi" under the musical direction of violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter, she performs worldwide. As a baroque violist, she deepened her knowledge of historical performance practice in the "Balthasar Neumann Ensemble" conducted by Thomas Hengelbrock, in the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, in the ensemble "il pomo d'oro" and in the orchestra "Le Concert Olympique" in Belgium. She is also an active chamber musician, collaborating regularly with partners including Baiba Skride, Kian Soltani, Harriet Krijgh and Frank Braley.
She plays on a viola made for her by the French violin maker Patrick Robin and an Alemannic baroque viola after a historical model by Dorothea van der Woerd. In addition to her music studies, Muriel Razavi holds a Bachelor's degree in "History and Culture of the Near East – Iranian Studies" from FU Berlin and a Master's degree in "Religion and Culture" from HU Berlin.