A member of a musical family, Anne-Sophie Mutter she took up the piano at five, quickly followed by the violin. In the 1970 Jugend musiziert competition she won both the violin category (with special distinction) and the piano duet category, with her brother Christoph. When she was 13 Karajan heard her play a recital with her brother at the Lucerne Festival, invited her to Berlin for an audition and engaged her for the 1977 Salzburg Whitsun Festival. That year she made her British debut, with the LSO conducted by Barenboim. Her Berlin debut was made with Karajan in 1978, her US debut at Washington in 1980 and her Russian debut at Moscow in 1985. In 1986 she gave the first performance of Lutos_awski's Chain II under Paul Sacher; other important premieres include Rihm's Gesungene Zeit in 1992 and Penderecki's Second Concerto in 1995. She has won many awards for her recordings. In 1986 she was appointed to the International Chair of Violin Studies at the Royal Academy of Music. In 1987 she established a foundation in Germany to help younger players. She has two Stradivaris, the 'Emiliani' of 1703 and the 'Lord Dunraven' of 1710.