Diemut Poppen - viola
Diemut Poppen is one of the most outstanding violists of her generation.
Born into a well-known musical family in Germany she started playing violin at the age of 7, giving her first concerts as a soloist at the age of 9. She learned to play several instruments of which viola became her favourite.
Diemut Poppen studied in Düsseldorf, Aachen, Cologne, Berlin, Bloomington (USA) and Paris.
Among her teachers were the finest violists of our time, Y.Bashmet, K.Kashkashian, B.Giuranna, H.Schlichtig, and P.Schidlof from the Amadeus-Quartet.
Today Poppen is one of the most sought after violists, playing concerts world-wide.
As a soloist and chamber musician she has appeared in the most important music centres of the world – the London’s Barbican, the Queen Elisabeth Hall, Carnegie Hall, Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall with the String Quartet festuring Joshua Bell and Steven Isserlis, to name just a few. She worked with conductors like Heinz Holliger, Frans Brüggen and Claudio Abbado.  
Famous musicians invited her to perform at numerous festivals, among others C. Abbado (Berlin, Lucerne), A.Schiff (Salzburg, Mondsee), G.Kremer (Lockenhaus), T.Mork (Stavanger), L.Kavakos (Athen), N.Gutman (Kreuth), Alexander Chaussian (Erevan) and Cyprus (PharosTrust), and others.
She was the artistic director of the Detmolder Sommerakademie,  the Thüringische Sommerakademie for Chamber Music, and the Detmolder summer academie all well-known in Germany for the summer festival for students of. From 1997 to 2002 she was the artistic director of the chamber music series “Osnabrücker Kammermusiktage“ in Osnabrück, Germany, and from 2007 of Music Las Palomas in Gran Canaria. In 2010, together with the Göthe Insitute, she co-founded the new Cantabile Festival, which focuses on the art of chamber music in Lisbon.

Diemut Poppen is a co-principal of the “Lucerne festival orchestra“, an illustrious orchestra of soloists who gather to play together only once a year under Claudio Abbado.
In earlier years Diemut Poppen was a founding member and principal viola of The Chamber Orchestra of Europe for 15 years. She left the orchestra in 1995 and has since been playing in concerts as a soloist and chamber musician.
Diemut Poppen’s repertory is exceptionally wide. It goes from the classical viola concertos to all combinations of chamber music and modern music. Several composers have written new pieces for her, solo as well as concertos, sonatas and chamber music.
For her achievements, she received the “European music“ prize.
She has recorded for Deutsche Grammophon, Cappricio, Live classics, EMI, Tudor, Ondine a.o. This season she's going to perform in Germany, England, Portugal, Spain, Italy, France, Greece, Swizzerland, Israel, Cyprus, United States and Armenia.
Currently, she is professor for viola and chamber music in Detmold, Germany and is also teaching at the Escuela di musica Reina Sofia in Madrid.