Barbara Buntrock was born in Wuppertal in 1982 and won second prize at the 2012 Tokyo International Viola Competition. She has also been awarded prizes at the ARD International Music Competition in Munich, the Concours de Genève, the Markneukirchen Music Competition and the German Music Competition. She studied with Barbara West- phal, Heidi Castleman, Lars Anders Tomter and Tabea Zimmermann and is the recipient of scholarships from the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes and the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben. She spent two years as principal viola player with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra before re- linquishing this post in favour of her work as a soloist and as a chamber recitalist. Since the winter of 2015/16 she has taught at the Robert Schumann Academy of Music in Düsseldorf. Barbara Buntrock plays on a viola made by Antonio Mariani in Pesaro in around 1650.