ISKANDAR Widjaja
Labeled both as “Worldclass-Violinist” (Stuttgarter Zeitung) and “Rockstar” (The Jakarta Post), Iskandar Widjaja connects worlds.
The son of Arabic-Dutch and Chinese-Indonesian parents grew up with high-caliber classical music and has performed as a soloist with internationally most renowned ensembles such as the Deutsches Symphonieorchester and Konzerthaus Orchestra Berlin, the Munich Philharmonic, the Warsaw Philharmonic, Shanghai Philharmonic, Sydney Symphony, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Symphony Orchestra Vienna, Athens State Orchestra or the Hong Kong Sinfonietta. Simultaneously, he has developed a parallel showbiz career in east Asia, with regular TV appearances, commercial endorsement contracts and brand-ambassador duties. ( John Hardy Jewelry, Tommy Hilfiger, CORUM Watches, Grand Seiko Watches)
He entered the Berlin “Hanns Eisler” conservatoire as an extraordinary student at the age of eleven. Awarded many international prizes even as a teenager and while studying, he now collaborates with the great names of classical music such as Zubin Mehta, Christoph Eschenbach, Rolando Villazón, David Foster, Itamar Golan and Fazil Say. He is also often to be seen at mass-media events like Miss World or Miss Earth, the Davis Cup, EXPO in Milan, the Fashion Week in Paris or the world premiere in Vienna’s Konzerthaus of the suite for violin and orchestra “Across the Stars” from Star Wars.
He also opened the APEC Conference in Bali in attendance of many Asian Leaders and has played for Chancellor Merkel, Presidents Yudhoyono and Joko Widodo.
Iskandar is strongly committed to educational projects for children in the Asian Pacific region, typically in collaboration with UNICEF or the WWF. Supported by KOMPAS Gramedia, Indonesia’s biggest media group, and the “besharp foundation” he organizes charity events to finance musical instruments and instruction for orphans, street-, and schoolchildren.
His personality and energy are aptly summed up by the string players’ house magazine The Strad, in the following words: “Iskandar Widjaja, a true force of nature.”
He plays the “Stephens” 1690 Stradivari and an 1875 JB Vuillaume.
