Violinist Valerie Steenken becomes the youngest leader in the orchestra’s history

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Valerie Steenken © Pablo Rodrigo

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Valerie Steenken has been appointed concertmaster of the National Orchestra of Spain at the age of 23. 

Born in Munich in 1999, the violinist studied with Julia Fischer at the University of Music and Theatre in Munich and with Marco Rizzi at the Reina Sofía School of Music in Madrid. Steenken has many years of experience as a concertmaster in various youth orchestras. In 2014, at the age of 15, she became the youngest concertmaster of the Odeon Youth Symphony Orchestra in Munich. In 2016, she also became concertmaster of the Bavarian State Youth Orchestra.

She won first prize at the CullerArts International Violin Competition in Spain in 2022. As a chamber musician, she won the International Gerhard Vogt Chamber Music Competition in Schweinfurt in 2019 and the Reina Sofía School of Music Prize with the Prosegur Albéniz Quartet in 2021. 

Steenken is the recipient of the 2022 Beatrice Milani Scholarship Prize and the ‘Stars of Tomorrow’ Scholarship from the Munich Concert Association.

Steenken is the founder of the Odeon Sextet in Munich and will perform with Julia Fischer at the Internationalen Musikfest am Tegernsee and the Festspielen Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in summer 2023.

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