Pauline Sachse

Pauline Sachse, viola (Hamburg, Germany), has performed with the Armida and Modigliani Quartets, as well as with Sabine Meyer, Jörg Widmann, Isabelle Faust, Janine Jansen, Carolin Widmann, Harriet Krijgh, Lauma Skride, and Martin Helmchen. As a sought-after chamber musician, she is a regular guest at the Salzburg Festival, the Rheingau Music Festival, the Schubertiade Schwarzenberg, the "Spannungen" Festival in Heimbach, the Moritzburg Festival, the Schwetzingen SWR Festival, and the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival, among others. She has performed in music centers including Wigmore Hall London, Vienna Concert House, Rudolfinum Prague, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, and the Berlin Philharmonic. Pauline has worked with composers Jörg Widmann, Peteris Vasks, Christian Jost, and Kit Armstrong, and has participated in various premieres. She also composes her own music. In addition to recording works by Schumann, Brahms, Shostakovich, and Hindemith, Pauline has also made various first recordings, such as the "Hamlet Echoes" by Christian Jost or various early classical sonatas by Franz Benda and Giorgio Antoniotto. Both the CD "Viola Galante" and her recording of the Shostakovich Sonata and Schubert's "Swan Song" with pianist Lauma Skride appeared on the longlist for the "German Record Critics' Award" and were highly praised by the press. In October 2023, Pauline took over the professorship for viola at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater “Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy” in Leipzig, having previously held the same position at the Hochschule für Musik in Dresden and at the Musikhochschule Lübeck. She has also held a guest professorship at the Hanns Eisler School of Music in Berlin. Before becoming a professor, Pauline was the solo violist of the Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester Berlin and played as a guest in the Berlin Philharmonic, the Bavarian Radio, and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra. She received her education at the Hanns Eisler School of Music and the Hochschule für Musik Frankfurt a.M. with Tabea Zimmermann, becoming Zimmermann’s assistant in 2007. She continued her studies at the UdK Berlin (with Wilfried Strehle), Yale University (with Jesse Levine), as well as with the Alban Berg Quartet at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Cologne. Pauline’s artistic and pedagogical approach includes elements from acting, dance, brain research, and psychology, and she recently appeared in the dance project of choreographer Sasha Waltz as part of the pre-opening of the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg. She plays a viola by Paolo Maggini (Brescia) from 1610 and a new 2017 build by Patrick Robin (Angers).