About Me

Autobiography

David Garrett
"If you only knew"
The Autobiography
Heyne HC, 336 pages, Paperback, Klappenbrosch, ISBN: 978-3-453-21854-3
Release: 14. December 2022

The only autobiography of the "greatest violinist of his generation".
- Yehudi Menuhin

David Garrett has worked hard for his way to the violin Olympus. His childhood was marked by discipline and daily work together with his father. He encouraged his talent, supported him and at the same time was an ambitious motor and drive. At the age of ten, David Garrett was already on stage with the greatest international orchestras and later, as a teenager, he played all the important works of classical music until, in his early twenties, he freed himself from the straitjacket of his prodigy existence and went to study in New York.

There he laid the foundation for a new genre of classical music, crossover, in which he combined virtuoso violin music with current pop music - making him better known than ever before. In this way, he embodies in an almost exemplary way the arduous search of a young person for his own path and true life, and finds his very own solution to this problem: complete devotion to what could just as easily have destroyed him as a person - music.

Vita

Having picked up his first violin at age 4, DAVID GARRETT studied with Zahkar Bron and Ida Haendel to name a few.

His extraordinary, multifaceted talent was spotted early on: as a child prodigy, DAVID GARRETT made his stage debut at the age of 10 and became the youngest-ever artist to sign with the prestigious Deutsche Grammophon at the age of 13. As a child he worked with conductors legends like Zubin Mehta, Claudio Abbado and Yehudi Menuhin. At the age of merely 15 he recorded all 24 of Paganini’s Caprices – doubtlessly some of the most challenging pieces ever written for violin. Yehudi Menuhin has even praised him as “the greatest violinist of his generation”.

At this very point of his career, he opted for honing and broadening his skills, enrolling at the world-famous Juilliard School in New York: he become a student of Itzhak Perlman.

After his graduation and continuing to this day DAVID GARRETT has been working with the most exceptional conductors in the classical field such as Zubin Mehta, Christoph Eschenbach, Riccardo Chailly, and Andrés Orozco-Estrada.

In addition, he plays with the most distinguished orchestras such as the Wiener Symphoniker, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Filharmonica della Scala, RAI Turin, Accademia di Santa Cecillia, Russian National Orchestra, and Israel Philharmonic.

The year 2023 is all about his new classical album ICONIC, which was released on 4 November 2022 by Deutsche Grammophon. It immediately reached number 4 of the German album Pop-Charts which is an extraordinary success for a classical album. DAVID GARRETT goes on tour internationally with this classical repertoire.

Within his now more than 10 years of international crossover career, DAVID GARRETT outdid himself over and over again. A Paganini among pop stars and a Jimi Hendrix among violinists, DAVID GARRETT is the “Devil’s Violinist” of our age, an international superstar who blurs the lines between Mozart and Metallica. With his programmes “Explosive” and “Unlimited” DAVID GARRETT is touring worldwide. The most impressive concert from the Baths of Caracalla in Rome on July 24, 2022 was broadcast by ZDF and ARTE.

Praised for pioneering the modern crossover trend as well as his exceptionally virtuous playing, DAVID GARRETT is equally at home at performing the most intricate classical compositions with the world’s leading conductors and orchestras as well as the most crowd-pleasing stadium rock hits. He combines rock star charisma with the kind of virtuosity innate only to the best instrumentalists of our time. Admired by all of his fans around the world, DAVID GARRETT has sold millions of tickets so far, sold over 4,5 million albums and more than 5,65 billion career streams worldwide and earned 25 gold and 17 platinum awards in places as diverse as Hong Kong, Germany, Mexico, Taiwan, Brazil, Singapore, and many others.

In 2013 DAVID GARRETT celebrated his debut as an actor in the role of Niccolò Paganini in the movie "The Devil's Violinist".

In 2022, his autobiography "IF YOU ONLY KNEW" was published in German, English, Italian and other languages. In Germany, the autobiography reached number 2 of the SPIEGEL Bestseller List non-fiction.

DAVID GARRETT plays the Stradivari "Ex Busch" (1716) and the "Pugnani" Guarneri del Gesù (1734) as well as the Guarneri del Gesù "Baltic" from 1731.

“He’s been a constant fixture on international concert stages since he was a teenager, he‘s recorded albums of core works and rock songs, and he‘s played Paganini in a movie. Is there anything David Garrett can‘t do?”

Classic FM
UK

“He uses his technique and his beautiful sound to serve the music he’s playing. And that’s very important.”

Zubin
Mehta

“If you need to describe David Garrett in a word – it is limitless.”

Metalhead
Ukraine

“Garrett not only unites different genres with each other – he connects different cultures in his songs.”

Leipziger Volkszeitung
Germany

“Melodious, passionate, dramatic, sincere and heartfelt.”

Rossiyakaya Gazeta Moscow
Russia

“Proving that music is immortal, and real art everlasting.”

Culturemeter
Ukraine

Quick Facts

 

Date of birth September 4th 1980
Stage debut - orchestra August 28th 1991 with Hamburger Philharmoniker
Breakthrough pop market 2007 with his first crossover album Free (a.k.a. Virtuoso)
Movie debut 2013 as the lead in “The Devil’s Violinist”
Compositions Since 2007 with "Free" release of own compositions: especially 2013 on "Garrett vs. Paganini" and 2015 on "Explosive" (11 new compositions)
Sales over 4,5 million albums and more than 5,65 billion career streams worldwide
Awards

26 gold and 17 platinum awards (as of October 2023)

4 Pop ECHO and 5 Classic ECHO. This makes David one of the very few artists to have received this award in both categories. (Timeless ECHO Klassik 2015 “Bestseller des Jahres”, Garrett vs. Paganini ECHO Klassik 2014 „Bestseller des Jahres”, Music ECHO 2013 „Künstler national Rock/Pop“, Music - Live in concert ECHO 2012 "DVD - Produktion National", Legacy ECHO Klassik 2012 „Der Bestseller des Jahres“, Rock Symphonies ECHO 2011 „Künstler national Rock/Pop“, Rock Symphonies Open Air Live - ECHO 2011 ”DVD-Produktion national”, Classic Romance ECHO Klassik 2010 „Der Bestseller des Jahres“, Virtuoso ECHO Klassik 2008 „Klassik-ohne-Grenzen“)

2023 - OPUS Klassik Award "Bestseller des Jahrs" for ICONIC

2023 - TAOBUK Award for his biography "If you only knew"

2021 - European Cultural Award

2020 - BZ Culture Prize

2017 - Frankfurt Music Prize

2013 - GQ "Men of the Year" Award

2013 - Bambi - Category: Klassik

2011 - Order of Merit of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia

2010 - Goldene Kamera for Best Music International

2009 - Goldene Feder

Prestiges Appearances

2013 in front of the President of the United States of America: Barack Obama in Berlin

2013 at the CDU MediaNight in front of Chancellor Angela Merkel

2012 at the Queen's Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II

2009 at the summer festival of the German Federal President

Sport events

02.12.2023 - UEFA - final draws EM2024 - Hamburg

11.10.2020 - Grand-Prix Race of Formula 1 - Nürburgring - German National Anthem

20.08.2020 - UEFA Europa League Anthem (remix)

20.02.2019 - FIS Nordic World Ski Championships - Seefeld/Austria

19.05.2012 - UEFA Champions League Final - Allianz Arena Munich - anthem together with Jonas Kaufmann

15.11.2011 - FIFA international match Germany vs. Netherlands - Hamburg - German and Dutch National Anthem

21.03.2009 - World championship final boxing match between Vitali Klitschko and Juan Carlos Gomez - Stuttgart - Ukrainian and Cuban National Anthem

Social Engagements

Amdassador of the "Deutsche José Carreras Leukämie-Stiftung e.V"

Supporter of "The Perlman Music Program"

Supporter of "Ein Herz für Kinder"

Concerts more than 1.600 so far (classical & crossover)
Largest audience 75,000 with Jonas Kaufmann at the Allianz Arena in Munich 2012, at the opening event of the UEFA Champions League Final.
crossover concert 17,000 (Munich 2013)
classical concert 40,000 (Milan 2015), performing with the Filharmonica della Scala conducted by Riccardo Chailly in front of Il Duomo.
Instruments

Stradivari "ex A. Busch" - (1716)

Guarneri del Gesù "Pugnani" - (1734)

Guarneri del Gesù "Baltic" (1731 - Leihgabe)

Conductors (selection) Zubin Mehta, Christoph Eschenbach, Claudio Abbado, Riccardo Chailly, Omer Meir-Wellber, Vladimir Spivakov, Lahav Shani,and Andrés Orozco-Estrada
Orchestras (selection) Israel Philharmonic, Filharmonica della Scala, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Wiener Symphoniker, RAI Turin, National Russian Orchestra, and Accademia di Santa Cecillia
Guinness World Record World’s Fastest Violinist – entry from 2008 to 2010 playing Nikolai Rimski-Korsakov’s “Flight of the Bumblebee” in 66.56 seconds and later in 65,26 seconds on an acoustic violin

Guarneri del Gesù

I have been passionate about violins since the day I started playing.

One maker attracted my attention from the very beginning: Bartolomeo Giuseppe Guarneri, also know as del Gesù. I was particularly fascinated with the creativity he exhibited throughout his life. His neverending search for something new and innovative inspired me.

Since there is no proper archive online about his incredible work, I have collected many photos over the years to create this website.