Iskandar Widjaja

Biography

“One of the most exciting Violinists on the international Fiddle-circuit”
(ARTE, September 2019)

Labeled both as “Worldclass-Violinist”(Stuttgarter Zeitung) and “Rockstar”(The Jakarta Post), ISKANDAR connects worlds.  The son of arabic-dutch and chinese-indonesian parents grew up with high-caliber  classical music and has performed as a soloist  with  internationally most renowned ensembles such as  the Deutsche Symphonie-Orchester- and Konzerthaus Orchestra Berlin, the Munich, Warsaw and Shanghai Philharmonics, Sydney Symphony, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Radio Symphony Orchestra Vienna or the Hong Kong Sinfonietta. Simultaneously, he has developed a parallel showbiz career in east Asia, with regular TV appearances, commercial endorsement contracts, brand-ambassador duties and “trending topic” status (most mentioned term) on  Twitter.

He entered the Berlin “Hanns Eisler” conservatoire as an extraordinary student at the age of eleven. Awarded many international prizes even as a teenager and while studying, he now collaborates with the great names of classical music such as Zubin Mehta, Christoph Eschenbach, Rolando Villazón,Cameron Carpenter, David Foster, Anggun, Itamar Golan and Fazil Say in halls such as the Elbphilharmonie, Philharmonie and Konzerthaus Berlin, Tonhalle Zurich, Shanghai Cultural Arts Center, Hong Kong City Hall or the Tel Aviv Opera House. He is also often to be seen at mass-media events like Miss World or Miss Earth, the Davis Cup, EXPO in Milan, the Fashion Week in Paris or the world premiere in Vienna’s Konzerthaus of the suite for violin and orchestra “Across the Stars” from Star Wars.

In addition to the traditional repertoire, he created the concept-concert “Bach&ZEN” in collaboration with a ZEN-Master and also works as a composer and songwriter. His compositions cannot be narrowed down to one genre, but combine influences of filmmusic, baroque, pop and hiphop.
Iskandar is strongly committed to educational projects for children in the Asian Pacific region, typically in collaboration with UNICEF or the WWF. Supported by KOMPAS Gramedia, Indonesia’s biggest media group, and the “besharp foundation” he  organizes charity events to finance musical instruments and instruction for orphans, street-, and schoolchildren.

His personality and energy are aptly summed up by the string players’ house magazine The Strad, in the following words: “Iskandar Widjaja, a true force of nature.”

He plays the “Stephens” 1690 Stradivari and an 1875 JB Vuillaume.