Jan Grüning – Viola
Jan Grüning was born in Munich in 1984. He received his first violin lesson at the age of 6 from Gerd Herbig. In 1997 he began to play the viola.
Several times Jan was first prize winner of the youth competition “Jugend musiziert” (“Youth make music”) in the categories of violin solo, viola solo and string quartet. In 2001 he joined the German National Youth Orchestra and participated in its workshops until 2003. He participated in masterclasses offered by Professors Conrad von der Goltz, Friedemann Berger, Emile Cantor, Jean Sulem, Thomas Riebl and Barbara Westphal, with whom he has been studing at the Music Conservatory in Lübeck since 2003.
In 2005 Jan received a bursary from the Marie-Luise Imbusch Foundation and in 2006 he was invited to take part in the Gaia Chamber Music Festival Hohenstaufen.
The viola he plays on is a new instrument created by Haat-Hedlef Uilderks as a replica of an instrument from the late 16th century by Gasparo da Salo.