Nils Mönkemeyer

Nils Mönkemeyer rose to prominence among German violists during the 2010s and 2020s, securing a Sony Classical recording contract that delivered broad visibility and robust sales. His work encompasses both historical viola repertoire and new compositions.

Born in Bremen in 1978 to guitarist Thomas Brendgens-Mönkemeyer, he began his training at Bremen’s Hochschule für Künste, initially concentrating on violin before changing to viola in 1997 after discovering a particular affinity for chamber-music sessions. He has sustained that focus through regular performances in three ensembles: a trio featuring Sabine Meyer and William Youn, the Julia Fischer Quartet, and a viola-piano partnership with Youn. At the Musikhochschule Hannover he worked with Christian Pohl; further studies took him to the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Munich and the Mozarteum in Salzburg, where Veronika Hagen served as his mentor. He performed on a 1742 Giuseppe Cavaleri instrument belonging to the state of Rheinland-Pfalz and currently plays one made by Peter Erben. Since 2011 he has held a professorship in viola at Munich.

Under his Sony Classical agreement he issued the album Ohne Worte (Without Words), presenting songs by Schubert, Schumann, and Mendelssohn transcribed for unaccompanied viola. Subsequent releases have maintained an inventive yet approachable character, frequently appearing on German classical sales charts and occasionally abroad. Among them is the 2013 two-disc set Bach und Mehr (Bach and More), which juxtaposed Bach’s Suites for Solo Cello with newer pieces shaped by Bach’s influence. In 2021 he released Vivaldi, Paganini, Tartini on the same label. For the CPO imprint, devoted to underrepresented repertory, he recorded Wilhelm Georg Berger’s viola concerto with the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin conducted by Horia Andreescu.