Rainer Honeck was born in 1961 in Nenzing, Vorarlberg. He studied at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna under Professor Edith Bertschinger, before beginning to work with famous Viennese teacher and member of the Vienna Philharmonic, Professor Alfred Staar.
Rainer Honeck was born in 1961 in Nenzing, Vorarlberg. He studied at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna under Professor Edith Bertschinger, before beginning to work with famous Viennese teacher and member of the Vienna Philharmonic, Professor Alfred Staar.
In 1981, Honeck was accepted as a first violinist in the Vienna State Opera Orchestra and the Vienna Philharmonic. He became leader of the State Opera Orchestra in 1984, and leader of the Vienna Philharmonic in 1992.
As a soloist, Rainer Honeck has performed at prestigious concert halls in Europe (Royal Albert Hall, London), America (Carnegie Hall, New York) and Japan (Suntory Hall, Tokyo). Personal highlights of his career include soloist appearances with the Vienna Philharmonic (performing Dvorak’s Violin Concerto conducted by Mariss Jansons and Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante with Tobias Lea on viola, conducted by Riccardo Muti), and a concert series with the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo, performing all of Mozart’s works for violin and orchestra. In 2011, Honeck performed Alban Berg’s Violin Concerto with the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra, conducted by Valery Gergiev, and with the Vienna Philharmonic conducted by Daniele Gatti.
Recordings include Dvorak’s and Mendelssohn’s violin concertos with the Czech Philharmonic (published by Pony Canyon), Schubert’s complete works for violin and piano (Studio Frohla), and violin concertos by Mozart (Orfeo). He can be heard as leader of the Vienna Philharmonic on recordings of Richard Strauss’ Ein Heldenleben (Christian Thielemann, Deutsche Grammophon), and Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade (Seiji Ozawa, Philips).
Viennese gala concert in Tallinn show moreat the Tallinn Philharmonic Society, featuring Rainer Honeck and the Estonian Chamber Orchestra – jointly staged with the Austrian Embassy in Tallinn under the direction of Ambassador Doris Danler and attended by the President of Estonia, it was broadcast on Estonian radio and could have sold out multiple times over.
As leader of the Wiener Virtuosen (1989-2000), the Wiener Streichersolisten (1982-2004), the Ensemble Wien (2000-2011) and the Vienna-Berlin Chamber Orchestra (since 2008), Honeck is also a prolific chamber musician, appearing on numerous studio and broadcast radio recordings. He has performed with prominent artists including Jessye Norman, Kathleen Battle, Angelika Kirchschlager, Jose Carreras, Andre Previn, Yuri Bashmet and Yefim Bronfman.
Honeck’s many years of experience as a leader of symphony orchestras and of large chamber music ensembles has led to repeated engagements as a conductor in recent years, for example with Malmö Symphony Orchestra in Sweden, the Yomiuri Symphony Orchestra and Kioi Sinfonietta in Tokyo, the Nagoya Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra in St. Petersburg.
Rainer Honeck plays a Stradivarius violin, ex-Hämmerle (1709), which is loaned to him by the Oesterreichische Nationalbank.