By virtue of her exceptional destiny and her radiant personality, Anja Linder has become one of the most popular and charismatic harpists of her generation. Born into a family of artists, Anja Linder began playing the harp at the Strasbourg Conservatoire. Her encounters with Marie- Claire Jamet and Marielle Nordmann, as well as her literary studies (she obtained a degree in modern literature), were decisive in her career choice.

Alongside the soprano Nathalie Gaude-froy, she won first prize for chamber music at the Arles International Chamber Music Compe- tition in 1999. In 2001, a serious accident forced her to give up her instrument. This event inspired engineers Jean-Marie Panterne and Marc Lamoureux to create a computer-controlled electro-pneumatic harp, the Anjamatic.

This new instrument, which simplifies the use of pedals and opens up new musical possibilities, was taught by Anja at the Strasbourg Conservatoire from 2013 to 2020 and is now being taught in masterclasses throughout Europe.

The prestigious Banque Populaire Foundation selected her as one of its prize-winners in 2010. Passionate about words and music, Anja conceived a musical reading of Milan Kundera’s The Unbearable Lightness of Being.

With the author’s exceptional permission, this project was released by Klarthe Records in 2015 and a year later, President François Hollande awarded her the Chevalier de l’Ordre national du Mérite.

Anja Linder’s new album, in collaboration with cellist Julie Sévilla-Fraysse and violinist Laurent Korcia, is called Schubert and is now available. This album, a tribute to Schubert as its name suggests, presents a selection of pieces that have accompanied the harpist over the years, each resonating in its own way in the artist’s career and life.

1. Schubert: So lasst mich scheinen, D877 No. 3
2. Schubert: Sonata in A minor Arpeggione, D821
3. Schubert: Nachtstück, D672 (Mayrhofer)
4. Schubert: Piano Trio No. 2 in E flat major, D929 - 2nd movement

This dutifully impassioned recording opens on the ornate gossamer of Schubert: So lasst mich scheinen, D877 No. 3 and then brings us the three part Schubert: Sonata in A minor Arpeggione, D821: which first delivers the preciseness of Allegro moderato, the delicate Adagio, and the finery of Allegretto, and they are backed seamlessly by the sheer elegance of Schubert: Nachtstück, D672 (Mayrhofer), closing out on the near ten minute, gracefully tender orchestrations that bring Schubert: Piano Trio No. 2 in E flat major, D929 - 2nd movement forth.

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