German-born and raised violinist, Dr. Felix Olschofka, has toured as a soloist, concertmaster, and chamber musician throughout Europe, Asia, North America, and South America. His playing has been described as “violinistic pyrotechnics” (TheaterJones Dallas), “charged with beauty” (Gramophone), “a true dream of romantic melodiousness” (General-Anzeiger-Bonn), and “remarkable for dramatic power” (Star-Telegram Fort Worth).
Olschofka is currently Associate Dean for Operations and Professor of Violin at the University of North Texas (UNT) College of Music in Denton, and formerly served as Director of Graduate Studies from 2018-2020. Olschofka founded the UNT Summer String Institute in 2014, and serves as both Director and faculty for this two-week long workshop for highly talented pre-college and college students. His previous teaching engagements include serving as Associate Professor at San Diego State University and teaching at summer festivals such as Round Top Music Festival, Bay View Music Festival, Summit Music Festival, and the CICA International Music Festival. Olschofka is a winner of numerous awards and competitions. He was awarded two first prizes in the prestigious German Youth Music Competition (solo and chamber music category), second prize in the International Chamber Music Competition Charles Hennen in The Netherlands and a grant from the Oscar and Vera Ritter Foundation. His former students are members of world-renowned orchestras such as Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Diego Symphony, and Houston Symphony, and prizewinners at national and international competitions such as the Boyer Music Competition, Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, and Osaka International Chamber Music Competition.
Olschofka has given master classes at renowned institutions such as Yale University, Eastman School of Music, Temple University, New York University, Arizona State University, China Conservatory, Renmin University, Seoul National University, Ewha Womans University, National Taiwan Normal University, Academy of Music and Theater Rostock, Universidad de Sao Paulo, Universidad de Santiago, and Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.
In 1993, Olschofka gave his international solo debut at the Seoul Arts Center with the Seoul Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Roman Kofman, with whom he made several recordings for Korean television and radio. His performances have been recorded and released by several radio and TV broadcasting stations such as NPR (USA), KBS (South-Korea), Megavision and ATB (South America), NRPR (Rumania), Deutsche Welle, ZDF, and WDR (Germany). As a proponent of contemporary music, Olschofka is a co-founder of SWARMIUS and TrioPolis with Kimberly Cole Luevano (clarinet) and Anatolia Ioannides (piano), commissioning new works and forging innovative, interdisciplinary collaborations across the performing arts. His orchestral background includes serving as concertmaster of the Terre Haute Symphony Orchestra, associate concertmaster with the Brandenburg Philharmonic Potsdam (Germany), and guest concertmaster with the Dallas Chamber Symphony and Shreveport Symphony. From 2011-14, he also led the Ensemble du Monde in New York City as their concertmaster.
Aside from his active performing and teaching career, Olschofka serves as an adjudicator on various juries of national and international competitions such as the National Violin Competition Hermilo Novelo in Mexico, International Queen Sophie Charlotte Violin Competition, and International Max Bruch Violin Competition Cologne in Germany.
Olschofka holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Music Conservatory Hanns Eisler in Berlin, a performance certificate from Indiana University, and a doctorate from the University of California San Diego. His teachers and mentors include Hannelore Olschofka, Michael Gaiser, Werner Scholz, and Mauricio Fuks.
For more information, please visit www.felixolschofka.com