Alma Deutscher

Alma Deutscher, born 2005, began playing the piano at the age of two and the violin at the age of three. At the age of six she composed her first piano sonata, a year later she wrote the short opera "The Sweeper of Dreams".

Deutscher composed a violin concerto and a piano concerto between the ages of 9 and 12. The opening concert of the Carinthian Summer Festival 2017 was dedicated to the premiere of these two concertos, with the Vienna Chamber Orchestra and with Deutscher as soloist on violin and piano. Deutscher's first major opera "Cinderella" was performed in Vienna in 2016 under the patronage of Zubin Mehta, and was received with enthusiasm by the public and the critics. Der Standard wrote: "... this amazing girl, who also wrote this amazingly good opera, bursting with original ideas". In Deutscher's reinterpretation of the well-known fairy tale, the character of Cinderella is no longer a passive victim who is chosen by the prince only because of her dainty feet, but a creative free spirit, a talented composer who is oppressed by her envious stepfamily. A production of this opera by Opera San Jose, California (2017) was described by Opera Today as a “once-in-a-lifetime opera-going event that had audiences standing and cheering.” This production was released by Sony Classical as DVD in 2018. Further productions were staged by the Vienna State Opera (in a children’s version), by the Salzburg State Theatre, and by the Wexford Festival. The "Wiener Zeitung" wrote about the Vienna State Opera production: "In concentrated form, Deutscher puts on a firework display of her best earworms, and the twelve-year-old is a melodist of high grace. Her cantilenas convey bottomless sorrow or overflowing longing as needed."

Alma Deutscher's first solo piano CD, From My Book of Melodies, was released by Sony Classical in 2019. Saarländische Rundfunk described the album: "The poetry of a Franz Schubert, the melancholy of a Chopin, the grace, lightness and brilliance of a Mozart - all this can be found in Deutscher's piano gems... [as well as] outstandingly crafted and brilliantly interpreted compositions that have depth". The first book with compositions by Alma Deutscher was published by G. Schirmer in 2021. Her second full opera, Des Kaisers neuer Walzer (The Emperor’s New Waltz), was commission by the Salzburg State Theatre and premiered there in 2023.

Articles and reviews about Alma Deutscher and her music have appeared in the national feuilletons, from the "New York Times" to "China Daily" to most major newspapers in Europe. Numerous TV stations around the world have featured programs about her. She was the protagonist of a one-hour BBC and CBS 60 Minutes documentary.

Alma Deutscher was awarded the European Culture Prize Taurus at the Vienna State Opera in 2019.

List of composition: https://www.almadeutscher.com/compositions