Irina Simon-Renes

The violinist Irina Simon-Renes, who hails from Romania, studied at the George Enescu Music School in Bucharest and in Germany with Thomas Zehetmair, Christoph Poppen, and Antje Weithaas. In 1998, she was accepted into the Academy of the Staatskapelle Berlin; she subsequently served as principal second violin in the Hamburg State Orchestra and, from 2001 to 2010, in the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. She has been a member of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra since 2013. As a guest principal, she regularly performs with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, the Bavarian State Orchestra, and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra; she is also principal violinist of the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra. From 2010 to 2024, Irina Simon-Renes directed the International Chamber Music Festival in Wassenaar, the Netherlands. The city awarded her its Culture Prize and Medal of Honor for this work. In 2020, the President of Romania appointed her a Knight of the Order of Arts.

June 2026