Álvaro Parra

“I can clearly remember the first programme that I played with the Berliner Philharmoniker as a member of the Orchestra Academy: Haydn’s Symphony No. 88 and Schubert’s Eighth. My feelings at this first concert were a mixture of being totally impressed by the wonderful sound of the orchestra and the playing style of the musicians and, at certain moments great, almost frantic excitement. This incredible atmosphere and at the same time this enormous excitement – I had never experienced anything like it before! My heart was in my mouth. ‘That’s what makes it fun,’ said my colleagues afterwards.”

Álvaro Parra grew up in a musical family. His earliest childhood memories include public concert performances by his parents, both pianists, and chamber music rehearsals at home. At the age of six, the only thing he wanted for Christmas was a violin and he knew quite early on that he wanted to be a violinist. To achieve this goal, the Chilean studied at the Academy of Music Hanns Eisler Berlin from 1996 to 2001 with Stephan Picard and Michael Mücke. He also attended master classes with Christoph Poppen, Mauricio Fuks, Roman Nodel and Harald Schoneweg. This was followed by fellowships at the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin (2001/2002) and at the Orchestra Academy of the Berliner Philharmoniker (2002-2004), where he was a student of Toru Yasunaga and Thomas Timm.

From 2005 to 2008, he taught in his home country as a professor of violin at the Universidad Católica de Chile in Santiago de Chile before joining the 1st violins of the Konzerthausorchester Berlin. Álvaro Parra bridges the gap between South America and Germany mainly as a soloist and chamber musician. There, he has given concerts with, including others, the Orquesta Sinfónica de Chile and the Orquesta Sinfónica de Concepción. In Germany, he has already been a chamber music partner to artists such as Lars Vogt and Julia Fischer. In his free time, he likes to play songs from his homeland on the guitar.