IMG Artists is delighted to welcome the celebrated violist Nils Mönkemeyer to our roster for general management. He will be represented by Senior Vice President Elena Kostova from the company’s London office.
Artistic brilliance and innovative programming are the trademarks that have earned Nils Mönkemeyer a reputation as one of the world’s most successful violists, dramatically raising the profile of his instrument.
His recent and forthcoming highlights have seen his return to major international venues such as Wigmore Hall London, Musikverein Vienna, LAC Lugano, Pierre Boulez Saal Berlin, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Prinzregententheater Munich and Alte Oper Frankfurt, as well as to festivals such as Schubertiade, Menuhin Festival Gstaad, Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Kissinger Sommer, Schwetzinger SWR Festspiele and Mozartfest Würzburg. During the current season as a soloist, Nils Mönkemeyer performs, among others, with Staatsorchester Hamburg under the baton of Kent Nagano, where he premieres Vladimir Tarnopolski’s “Im Dunkel vor der Dämmerung” together with Boglarka Pecze und Edicson Ruiz. Further season highlights are collaborations with the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester, Orchestra della Svizzera italiana, Wroclaw Philharmonic and – together with Alina Ibragimova – Kammerorchester Basel. Special chamber music projects of the 2023/24 season include trio concerts with Sabine Meyer and William Youn; the project “Viola Latina!” with Rubén Dubrovsky and Bach Consort Vienna, as well as a tour with the Julia Fischer Quartet to London, Zurich, Madrid, Prague, Berlin, and Munich, among others.
Nils said: “A classical music representative is so much more than a booking agent, as they tend to shape our lives in many ways, and I am beyond excited to join IMG Artists to pursue my musical journey together with the incredible Elena Kostova as my general manager and Bibi Thomas-Gandara as my assistant. I look forward to the future with great excitement for everything that is to come.”
Elena said: “For a long time, I have the deepest appreciation for Nils’s artistic qualities which are of the highest caliber and versatility which have righteously earned his reputation as one of the world’s leading violists. In addition, Nils’s deep commitment to innovative programming, enthusiasm for pedagogy and strong collaborative approach are features which have secured him a special place within classical music community. I am therefore immensely honored that Nils has decided to join IMG’s roster and that I will personally have an opportunity to join him on his musical journey.”
Nils’s programmes run the gamut from rediscoveries and first recordings of original 18th-century viola literature to contemporary repertoire and arrangements of his own. This is also reflected on his recordings with Sony Classical, which have repeatedly won awards and been celebrated by the international press. The most recent example, Nils Mönkemeyer’s album “Dance for Two”, released in spring 2023, with recorder player Dorothee Oberlinger brings together works from over a thousand years of music history, mostly in their own arrangements for this special instrumentation.
Nils works together with conductors such as Andrej Boreyko, Sylvain Cambreling, Constantinos Carydis, Nicholas Collon, Reinhard Goebel, Elias Grandy, Pietari Inkinen, Vladimir Jurowski, Joana Mallwitz, Andrew Manze, Cornelius Meister, Mark Minkowski, Kent Nagano, Markus Poschner, Kristiina Poska, Michael Sanderling, Clemens Schuldt, Markus Stenz, Mario Venzago or Simone Young, performing as a soloist with orchestras including Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Les Musiciens du Louvre, Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, Berne Symphony Orchestra, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester, Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester and Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Dresden Philharmonic, Hamburg Philharmonic, Frankfurter Opern- und Museumsorchester, SWR Symphony Orchestra, MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra, NDR Radiophilharmonie, Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Munich Chamber Orchestra or Berliner Barock Solisten.
Nils has been a professor at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Munich since 2011. He plays a viola made by Philipp Augustin.
Photo Credit: Irène Zandel
