Vienna’s ORF Radio Symphony Orchestra Announces New Concertmaster

Polish violinist Łucja Madziar has assumed the role alongside violinist Maighréad McCrann

The ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra (RSO) appointed violinist Łucja Madziar as its first concertmaster — a role she shares with Irish violinist Maighréad McCrann. McCrann has performed with the orchestra since 1993.

Madziar graduated from the Academy of Music in Rostock and the University of Graz, studying with Petru Munteanu and Silvia Marcovici. Her other mentors included Ida Haendel, Shlomo Mintz, Igor Ozim, and Gerard Poulet. She was the winner of Croatia’s International Violin Competition Vaclav Huml and laureate of Vienna’s International Fritz Kreisler Competition. 

Since 2006, she has served as the first concertmaster of Hannover’s State Opera Orchestra, Essen Philharmonic, and Munich Philharmonic. From 2019 to 2022, she held the concertmaster role for Deutsche Oper Berlin. As a guest concertmaster, she has played with Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig, Bayerisches Staatsorchester Munich, and Staatskapelle Berlin, and conductors including Zubin Mehta, Kirill Petrenko, Simone Young, and Sir Roger Norrington

In the chamber music realm, in 2012, Madziar formed the Klaviertrio Hannover ensemble with pianist Katharina Sellheim and cellist Johannes Krebs. The group’s recordings were nominated at the 2020 Opus Klassik Awards. 

Founded in 1969, the RSO is the orchestra of the Austrian national broadcaster, the Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF). Currently led by chief conductor Marin Alsop, its past conductors included Milan Horvat, Leif Segerstam, Lothar Zagrosek, Pinchas Steinberg, Dennis Russell Davies, Bertrand de Billy, and Cornelius Meister.