Darius Preuss

Darius Preuss was born in 2004 as the third child of Persian-German parents.

He started playing the violin at the age of 4 at the music school in the city of Herne under Yeling Yuan, continued his education under Benjamin Ramirez in Cologne and finally, at the age of 11, started studying at the conservatory “Hochschule für Musik und Tanz” in the “Pre Collge Cologne” under Prof. Ute Hasenauer.

Ever since 2010, he has won several first prizes at both national and international competitions such as the DTKV competition, “Jugend Musiziert” (regional, state, and national level), the Radda International Violin Competition, the Lions Music Prize, the Concorso Internazionale di Musica Città di Stresa in Italy, the Flame competition in Paris and the Hamburg Instrumental competition, earning a special award there.

He has also gained plenty of experience at playing in an orchestra, for instance as a member of the Herne Symphony Orchestra, the NRW Youth Orchestra, and as the concertmaster of the Kinderorchester NRW.
In 2019, he was chosen to join the National Youth Orchestra of Germany.

He has played in public since early childhood, amongst other things as a soloist with the Herne Symphony Orchestra, the Jugendsinfonieorchester Bochum, the Camerata Louis Spohr, and the New Philharmonic Westphalia.

In September 2016, he was invited to play at Castle Bellevue in front of Joachim Gauck, the then President of Germany.

He has received invitations to play as a soloist in various renowned concert venues in Germany, such as the Cologne Philharmonie, the Anneliese Brost Musikforum Ruhr, the Laeiszhalle Hamburg and many more.

He made his international debut in 2018 with a concert tour through Italy and Switzerland, returning to Italy once again in 2019.

He cites masterclasses and personal meetings with Patinka Kopec, Arabella Steinbacher and Zakhar Bron to have left a big impact on him.

Darius Preuss plays an 18th century violin built by Antonio Gragnani, provided to him by a private sponsor on a long-term basis.