CV – short version
Anna-Victoria Baltrusch-Schulze (born 1989 in Berlin) is a concert organist, professor and church musician. Simultaneously with attending school she studied as a junior student at the Julius Stern Institute of the UdK Berlin (Berlin University of the Arts). After her final examinations (Abitur) she went on studying at the Freiburg University of Music (Protestant Church Music, Organ and Piano); in 2016 she completed her concert diploma in organ with distinction. Influential teachers included Prof. Dr. Andreas Sieling, Prof. Dr. Martin Schmeding, Prof. Zsigmond Szathmáry, Frédéric Champion and Prof. Gilead Mishory.
After winning First Prize at the International Organ Competition of the Bach Society Wiesbaden (2009), she received numerous further awards, including a scholarship from the German Music Competition (Deutscher Musikwettbewerb) and Second Prize at the International Music Competition of the ARD. Among other prizes she won prizes at the August Gottfried Ritter Organ Competition Magdeburg, the International Organ Competition St Albans (UK) and the International Bach–Liszt Organ Competition Erfurt–Weimar.
Anna-Victoria Baltrusch-Schulze maintains a busy concert schedule in Germany and across Europe; she has performed at venues including the Philharmonie Berlin and has worked with renowned ensembles such as the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Staatskapelle Halle and the NDR Radio Choir. Her album “Liszt. The Friend and Paragon” was included in the 2022 critics’ selection (Bestenliste) of the German Record Critics’ Award. She is also active as a juror at national and international organ competitions and is teaching at masterclasses. From 2015 to 2019 she held a teaching post for Artistic Organ Playing at the University of Music and Theatre Leipzig, and from 2016 to 2021 she was organist at the Alte Tonhalle organ of the Neumünster in Zürich. Since the winter semester of 2021/22 she has been Professor of Artistic and Liturgical Organ Playing at the Protestant University of Church Music in Halle (EHK Halle), titular organist of the city’s Ulrichskirche concert hall, and artistic director of the KLANGKOSMOS ORGEL concert series. She is also University Organist of Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg and, in the winter semester of 2025/26, took on an interim professorship in organ at the University of Music and Theatre Leipzig.
CV – long version
Anna-Victoria Baltrusch-Schulze was born in Berlin in 1989. She received piano lessons from the age of five and, from 1998 organ lessons as well. From 2002 she was a junior student at the Julius Stern Institute of the UdK Berlin, in piano (Prof. Doris Wagner-Dix and Mi-Joo Lee) and organ (Prof. Dr. Andreas Sieling). After her final examinations (Abitur) in 2008 she studied two degree programmes at the Freiburg im Breisgau University of Music: Protestant Church Music (Master, formerly the ‘A’ qualification) and Piano (Bachelor). Her teachers included, in organ, Prof. Martin Schmeding, Frédéric Champion and Prof. Zsigmond Szathmáry; in choral conducting, Jan Schumacher and Prof. Manfred Schreier; in piano, Prof. Gilead Mishory. In October 2016 she concluded her studies with a degree of Concert Diploma in organ with distinction.
Anna-Victoria Baltrusch-Schulze is a six-time First Prize winner of the national ‘Jugend musiziert’ competition in the organ and piano categories, and has additionally received numerous special prizes. She is likewise a multiple prize-winner of the Steinway Piano Competition as well as the Köthen Bach Competition and the Münster Classical Music Competition.
In 2009 Anna-Victoria Baltrusch-Schulze won First Prize at the renowned International Organ Competition of the Bach Society Wiesbaden; in 2010 she won a scholarship from the German Music Competition (Deutscher Musikwettbewerb) in organ, together with admission to the ’55th Federal Selection of Concerts by Young Artists’ and to the ‘Artist Roster – Soloists of the German Music Competition’. In 2011 she took Second Prize in organ at the 60th International Music Competition of the ARD. In May 2013 Anna-Victoria Baltrusch won First Prize as well as the special prize for the best interpretation of a sonata by August Gottfried Ritter at the International August Gottfried Ritter Organ Competition Magdeburg. In July 2013 she received Second Prize at the International Organ Competition St Albans (UK). In 2015 she won Second Prize at the International Bach–Liszt Organ Competition Erfurt–Weimar.
From October 2010 to September 2014 Anna-Victoria Baltrusch-Schulze was supported by the Protestant Study Foundation Villigst; in March 2012 she received a scholarship from the Brahms Society Baden-Baden, combined with a three-week study residency at the Brahmshaus Baden-Baden.
Anna-Victoria Baltrusch-Schulze has given concerts as both organist and pianist in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, France, Luxembourg, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Denmark, Slovakia, Russia and Turkey. In January 2012 she made her debut at the Berlin Philharmonie. She has performed with ensembles such as the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Staatskapelle Halle, the Neue Philharmonie Westfalen, the Brandenburg State Orchestra and the NDR Radio Choir. In addition, she gives masterclasses at home and abroad and has served as a juror at the International Organ Competition of the Bach Society Wiesbaden, the Northern Ireland Organ Competition (UK) and the German Music Competition. Her album ‘Liszt. The Friend and Paragon’ was included in the 2022 critics’ selection (Bestenliste) of the German Record Critics’ Award.
From 2008 to 2014 Anna-Victoria Baltrusch-Schulze was organist at the Protestant Matthäus parish and choral director at St Peter and Paul in Freiburg; from September 2014 to October 2015 she took over the district cantor position at the Protestant Christuskirche in Bad Krozingen as maternity-leave cover. From the 2015/16 winter semester to the 2019 summer semester she held a teaching post for Artistic Organ Playing at the University of Music and Theatre Leipzig. From 2016 to 2021 she was also organist at the Alte Tonhalle organ of the Neumünster in Zurich, and from 2017 to 2021 artistic director of the independent chamber choir TonArt Zürich.
Since the winter semester of 2021/22, Anna-Victoria Baltrusch has taught as Professor of Artistic and Liturgical Organ Playing at the Protestant University of Church Music in Halle (EHK Halle). In 2022 she was appointed titular organist of the city’s Ulrichskirche concert hall, where she is artistic director of the KLANGKOSMOS ORGEL concert series. For the winter semester of 2023/24 she was appointed University Organist of Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg. In the winter semester of 2025/26 she additionally took on part of the interim professorship for Prof. Martin Schmeding at the University of Music and Theatre Leipzig.
Anna-Victoria Baltrusch-Schulze is a member of the executive board of the Gottfried Silbermann Society.
She is married and has one child.
Die Orgel,
das Spiel mit dem Wind
Quoted in the original German:
Auf dem Zauberpfad der Notenzeichen,
dem Geäst der Schlüssel, Signaturen,
auf dem Tastwerk, das die Füß‘ und Hände
eines Organisten bändigen, entweichen
gottwärts, geistwärts alle höchsten Strebungen,
strahlen, was an Leid sie je erfuhren,aus im Ton. In wohlgezählten Bebungen
Hermann Hesse (1877–1962)
löst der Drang sich, steigt die Himmelsleiter,
Menschheit bricht die Not, wird Geist, wird heiter.
Denn zur Sonne zielen alle Erden,
und des Dunkels Traum ist: Licht zu werden.
One could hardly describe organ music – indeed music in general – more beautifully: music uplifts and delights people, but it can also stir and move them profoundly. It gives me joy whenever I can offer you such experiences through my music from time to time