German born violinist Nadja Zwiener studied in Berlin and at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, where she specialised in historic performance practice of music from the 17th to the 19th Century.\r \r \r She concentrated on playing in a string quartet for eight years, played in the opera orchestra in Munich for two years and worked closely with a number of composers on performing their newly written pieces before discovering what she enjoyed most: playing on gut strings. \r \r \r She is also active as a soloist and directs programmes from the violin. Recent engagements include the violin solo in Handel’s Giulio Cesare on stage in Glyndebourne with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (available on DVD) and the Royal Albert Hall in London (Proms), a production of music by Vivaldi in Venice for the BBC, Bach violin concerto with the English Concert in the Wigmore Hall in London as well as directing Camerata Kilkenny, The English Concert and the Mendelssohn Kammerorchester Leipzig. \r \r \r As a concertmaster she has worked with Simon Rattle, William Christie, Trevor Pinnock, John Eliot Gardiner and Emmanuelle Haim and regularly performs with various period instrument ensembles such as Les Arts Florissants, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Le Concert d’Astrée and others. \r \r \r Of particular interest and inspiration to Nadja is the work with singers and her passion for chamber music led her to co-found the summer festival „Thüringer Kammermusiktage“ in Germany, which takes place every two years and features music from the 17th to the 21st Century in often new and unusual contexts.\r