María Dueñas

Violin

©Sonja Müller

General Management

Biography

Spanish violinist María Dueñas has emerged as a luminous talent in classical music, captivating audiences with her extraordinary range of tonal colours, impeccable technical prowess, and interpretations that blend artistic maturity with bold expressiveness. The New York Times praised her ability to breathe "new life into well-known pieces" and described her as a "22-year-old violinist who has something to say, and the skill to say it brilliantly".

Her meteoric rise led to an exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon, a significant milestone in her burgeoning career. María Dueñas' debut album, Beethoven and Beyond, released in 2023, showcased her remarkable interpretation of Beethoven's violin concerto, featuring cadenzas composed by herself. This recording, made with the Wiener Symphoniker under Manfred Honeck, earned her the prestigious Opus Klassik award as Young Artist of the Year in 2024, adding to an extraordinary array of grand and first prizes at international competitions, including the Senior Division of the Menuhin Competition, the Vladimir Spivakov International Violin Competition and the Zhuhai International Mozart Competition. Her unique interpretative approach has also been honoured by the Rheingau Music Festival, BBC Radio 3 and the Princess of Girona Arts and Letters Award. February 2025 marked the release of her second Deutsche Grammophon album, an ambitious project centered around Paganini's legendary 24 Caprices and works inspired by Paganini from composers spanning from Berlioz to contemporary artists. For this recording, she was distinguished as Young Artist and Instrumentalist of the Year at the 2025 Gramophone Classical Music Awards.

Establishing herself as a globally recognized soloist, she has already collaborated with the world’s leading orchestras such as the Philadelphia Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Staatskapelle Berlin, Staatskapelle Dresden, Oslo Philharmonic, NHK Symphony Orchestra, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Munich Philharmonic, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester, Bamberger Symphoniker, Wiener Symphoniker, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, Accademia di Santa Cecilia, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, and the Orchestre de Paris, alongside a constellation of esteemed conductors including Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Herbert Blomstedt, Christian Thielemann, Marin Alsop, Christoph Eschenbach, Manfred Honeck, Andris Nelsons, Kent Nagano, Marek Janowski, Daniel Harding, Alain Altinoglu, Alan Gilbert, Semyon Bychkov, Cristian Măcelaru, Paavo Järvi, Vasily Petrenko, Andrés Orozco-Estrada, Santtu-Matias Rouvali, Vladimir Spivakov, Gustavo Gimeno, Jukka-Pekka Saraste and Antonio Pappano, among others.

Her strong artistic partnership with Los Angeles Philharmonic and Gustavo Dudamel has yielded several notable achievements, such as performances at the Hollywood Bowl's 100th Anniversary celebration, the world premiere of Gabriela Ortiz's violin concerto Altar de Cuerda with concerts at Walt Disney Concert Hall, on tour in Barcelona, Paris and London, and sold-out premieres at Carnegie Hall and in Boston. The recording of this work is part of the album Revolución diamantina which won three GRAMMY Awards in 2025.

A versatile artist with a remarkable passion for composition, the creative endeavors of María Dueñas include Homage 1770, a piece for solo violin inspired by her debut album and Beethoven's legacy, Farewell, a solo piano piece, and cadenzas for most of the violin concerto repertoire. In August 2024, she released Julian Lawrence Gargiulo's Sonata No. 4 From the Window for Deutsche Grammophon, showcasing her commitment to contemporary music. As a chamber musician, she has forged significant artistic collaborations with highly respected partners, such as baritone Matthias Goerne, pianist Itamar Golan, and violinist Renaud Capuçon.

Her remarkable fusion of classical tradition and contemporary innovation led her to play the reincarnation of Kathleen Parlow in the film Measures for a Funeral by Sofia Bohdanowicz, rediscovering Johan Halvorsen's long-lost violin concerto op. 28. This masterpiece was brought to life in a stunning performance with the Orchestre Métropolitain under the baton of Yannick Nézet-Séguin, which premiered at the 2024 Toronto Film Festival.

Highlights of the 2025-2026 season include her debuts with the Vienna Philharmonic under Karina Canellakis at the Salzburg Mozart Week, and the New York Philharmonic under her long-standing artistic partner Manfred Honeck, with Beethoven's violin concerto, concerts on the occasion of Zubin Mehta's 90th birthday together with the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, as well as a tour through Australia and New Zealand.

As a stipendiary of the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben, María Dueñas plays the Giambattista Guadagnini violin of 1779, as well as the Antonio Stradivarius “Michelangelo” (1718), on generous loan from the Karolina Blaberg Foundation.

This biography may not be published in edited/abbreviated form without prior consent of KünstlerSekretariat am Gasteig.

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News

María Dueñas on tour in Australia

María Dueñas in Bern

María Dueñas in Strasbourg

María Dueñas & Manfred Honeck in New York

María Dueñas in Salzburg

María Dueñas in Lucerne

Calendar

13. March 2026 - 19:30

Geelong, 3220, Geelong Costa Hall

Ludwig van Beethoven: Konzert für Violine und Orchester D-Dur op. 61

Info & Tickets

14. March 2026 - 14:00

Melbourne, Hamer Hall

Ludwig van Beethoven: Konzert für Violine und Orchester D-Dur op. 61

Info & Tickets

19. March 2026 - 19:00

Sydney, Sydney Opera House

Max Bruch: Konzert für Violine und Orchester Nr. 1 g-moll op. 26

Info & Tickets

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Gallery

The evening opened with an impressive Philharmonic debut by the young Spanish violinist María Dueñas. Delivering a radiant rendition of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto – a work she performed with Honeck and the Vienna Symphony on a 2023 album – her elegant artistry and glowing tone were completely mesmerizing. Played at a decidedly measured tempo, the opening of the Allegro first movement sounded especially gentle and serene, leading into a unique, completely captivating performance. A particularly lyrical Larghetto, dispatched with graceful tenderness and warmth, was followed by a genial, dancing finale. Dueñas’ virtuosity was most evident in the cadenzas – she played her own for all three movements – where she displayed total technical mastery, poetic sensitivity and a distinctive creative voice. In response to the audience’s enthusiastic ovation, she offered an encore: a poignant, highly refined rendition of Franz von Vecsey’s quintessentially romantic Valse triste.

Bachtrack

Lyricism and drama from Maria Dueñas, Manfred Honeck and the New York Philharmonic, Susan Stempleski, 31.01.2026

Maria Dueñas’s treatment of Paganini is wondrous for its musicality. Even more of a pleasure, though, is this album’s second half highlighting other composers’ caprices, including Gabriela Ortiz’s recent “De Cuerda y Madera,” recorded with the pianist Alexander Malofeev. A rhapsodic journey, it grooves, seduces and sings. Above all, it inspires awe.

New York Times

Joshua Barone, Best Classical Music Albums of 2025, 18.12.2025

María Dueñas a en effet cette particularité de trouver une intention musicale dans la moindre note. Son tout récent enregistrement des Caprices de Paganini, à cet égard, est stupéfiant de créativité. Son écoute génère une sensation qui s’apparente à de l’ivresse pour l’auditeur. Son tempérament ardent, et sa tendance à l’hyper-expressivité, pouvait faire craindre le pire dans cette œuvre d’un romantisme exacerbé. Mais avec son incroyable énergie, que l’on pourrait qualifier de sanguine mais qu’elle maîtrise avec superbe, elle évite les excès de bons sentiments. Son vibrato est de braise, ses glissades sont magnétiques, et elle varie les places et les vitesses d’archet avec un sens musical infaillible.

Crescendo Magazine

Champagne avant l’heure à Radio France, avec Manfred Honeck, l’ONF et Johann Strauss (et une flamboyante María Dueñas) Le 19 octobre 2025, Pierre Carrive

Manche Werke, so scheint es, warten nur darauf, bis endlich jemand kommt, der zeigt, was wirklich in ihnen steckt. Für das Violinkonzert von Erich Wolfgang Korngold ist das María Duenas. Die Spanierin, noch keine 21 Jahre alt, entwirft eine vollgültige Persönlichkeit, widerspenstig, mit charaktervollem, bisweilen gar säurehaltigem statt lukullischem Ton. Die Solostimme des Konzerts mag träumerisch lyrisch getönt sein, doch María Duenas kann sich auch geräuschvoll durchsetzen, resolut austeilen, die Spiccato-Passagen aufspießen, als ob ein Strawinsky sie geschrieben hätte. Korngold hat in diesem Werk musikalische Themen aufgegriffen, die er in Partituren für Hollywood-Filme verwendet hatte. Schwer zu sagen, ob er bei der kompositorisch kunstvollen Verarbeitung an eine bestimmte Schauspielerin gedacht hat. Bei María Duenas fühlt man sich eher an eine trotzig souveräne Katharine Hepburn denn an eine verliebt leidende Ingrid Bergman erinnert. Sogar den biografischen Hintergrund dieser Person lässt sie erahnen: Duenas artikuliert auch längere Phrasen mit Nachdruck durch, sägt in der Höhe so unbarmherzig, dass gleich zwei Bogenhaare reißen, und wenn sie einmal gleichsam einen charmant klingenden Augenaufschlag macht, sollte ihr Gegenüber sich dennoch nicht in Sicherheit wiegen. Einfach furios.

Abendzeitung München

Michael Bastian Weiß, Abendzeitung München, 22.10.2023

At 22, María Dueñas brought a striking combination of daredevil technique and musical maturity to Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E minor. Her phrasing in the opening movement was elegant yet fearless, with finely spun lines that never lost momentum or tonal clarity, even in the most exposed passages. The cadenza, delivered with crisp articulation and a sense of inner direction, emerged as a natural extension of the movement rather than a display set apart. In the Andante, Dueñas played with a restrained lyricism that avoided sentimentality, allowing the long lines to unfold with ease and clarity. The finale, impeccably clean and fleet, also favoured control over abandon. … For a BSO debut, it was impressive not just in its polish, but in its poise: a performance that conveyed both the freshness of youth and the self-awareness of an artist whose sense of form and restraint belied her youth.

bachtrack

María Dueñas makes an impressive Tanglewood debut with Mendelssohn, Edward Sawa-Segal, 27.07.2025

Bei Licht besehen handelt es sich … um ein fünfsätziges Violinkonzert, in dem der Solist alles an geigerischen Finessen und funkelnden Einlagen aus sich herausholen kann, zu dem er fähig ist. Das ließ sich hier die junge Geigerin Maria Dueñas nicht zweimal sagen und glänzte vor allem mit fabelhafter, technischer Perfektion, über die man nur staunen konnte. Und dennoch hatte ihr Spiel Seele, was besonders wichtig war. Es stellte sich der Eindruck ein, dass sie mit Haut und Haaren mit diesem Lalo verwachsen war. Irgendwelche spieltechnischen Hürden brauchte Dueñas nicht zu fürchten und tat es mit der größten Selbstverständlichkeit auch nicht.

Dresdner Neueste Nachrichten

Mareile Hanns, "Spanisches Gold und böhmische Melancholie", 07.10.2024

María Dueñas gefällt mit schönem, aber nie ins Süßliche abgleitenden Ton, edelsteinpräziser Phrasierung und maximaler Präsenz. Eine Künstlerin, die stets die Balance zwischen spieltechnischer Brillanz und Tiefe des Ausdrucks zu wahren versteht und die Korngolds akustischen Breitwand-Sound so zelebriert, dass jeder Anflug von Kitsch außen vor bleibt. Diese traumwandlerisch sichere Gratwanderung begeistert, weil das Spiel der Spanierin, die in Wien studiert, auch in den virtuosesten Passagen stets unprätentiös bleibt.

Erlanger Nachrichten

Hans von Draminski: Die Brillanz und der schöne Ton, in: Erlanger Nachrichten, 06.10.2023

Beethoven & Beyond: She has really earned this recording. And she’s certainly got everything it takes to be both a superstar and a musician of the first order: imagination, intelligence, flawless technique, interpretive insight beyond her years, a temperament fiery and passionate yet graceful and lyrical, and a view of the work that is at once thoughtfully personal and highly individual without being in the least idiosyncratic or courting difference for difference’s sake [...]. I’ve been listening to this concerto since I was a junior in college, have acquired several recordings along the way (and listened to countless more); yet having listened to it now four times all the way through, I can’t think of one that has given me greater pleasure, few as much. 24 Caprices: [Her] Nicolò Gagliano violin [,] brilliant on the upper ones, from which Dueñas produces a kaleidoscopically dazzling range of color, sonority, touch, and dynamic shading, a variety directly mirrored in her gloriously variegated interpretive approaches to and characterizations of the individual numbers [...]. Like the pieces themselves, she’s everywhere spontaneous, impetuous, unbridled, impulsive, sometimes even reckless yet without ever losing control. Even better, she often sounds like she’s having fun [...]. Dueñas’s 24 Caprices is on every level the most exciting new album I’ve heard so far this year.

Tracking Angle

Paul Seydor, "A Star is born", Tracking Angle, 24.06.2025

Maria Duenas‘ singuläre Interpretation der Paganini-Caprices (ergänzt um die in der künstlerischen Nachfolge entstandenen Werke) steht nun in einer stolzen Reihe auf Augenhöhe mit außergewöhnlichen Pionierleistungen, wie wir sie von Salvatore Accardo, Nathan Milstein (berühmt geworden ist seine Paganiniana – Variationen über Caprice Op. 1) oder Itzhak Perlman kennen. Anhören und genießen!

Online Merker

Dr. Ingobert Waltenberger, 11.02.2025