Phoebe Violet, born 1988 in Costa Rica, is a violinist, singer-songwriter, composer, performer, conceptionalist and painter based in Vienna. Her work merges the rich tradition of her cultural background and her broad artistic upbringing. Although she has had musical and arts training throughout her life, Phoebe Violet is largely self-taught.
Phoebe Violet began taking violin lessons at the age of 3 at the Instituto Nacional de Música de Costa Rica, and started singing shortly after. After moving to Austria in 2002, she continued pursuing music, performing both in youth orchestras, chamber ensembles and as a soloist. She made her debut at the Brucknerhaus Linz with Mozart's A-Major Violin Concerto at age 17 with a cadenza she wrote herself, and was also chosen to play the first performances of Austrian composer Thomas Mandel's rock pieces for solo violin and orchestra.
Although she started writing songs at the age of 13, she formed her first music ensembles in her early twenties, experimenting with different genres and instrumentation, which resulted later in her first album The Rhythm of my Soul released in 2014, a selection of songs with a strong pop feel. After some years of study and a much-needed pause to accommodate the new demands of motherhood, she returned to performing with a repertoire of original songs in Spanish, her native tongue, which she arranged for a string ensemble composed of members of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra. She released the EP Entre Cielo y Tierra Parte II in 2019, and the full Entre Cielo y Tierra album in 2021, on which she returns to her Latin-American roots and explores her relationship with the world and life at large. The album was honored the Costa Rican ACAM Award for Best Album in the Category Contemporary Classic 2022. Her most recent release is a concept album about the emotional peaks of romantic love called Tú y yo (2024) for voice, violin and two violoncelli, working once again with members of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra.
As a composer, Phoebe Violet has created a new way of expression outside her own projects, collaborating with other artists that embrace a broader spectrum of the performing arts. She was commissioned by the Costa Rican Ministry of Culture in 2021 to write the original score to the musical Revolucionarias directed by Liubov R. Otto for the Costa Rican National Theatre Company. Other works include original scores for theater plays (for example Königstöchter by Klara Rabl for Lösshof Summer Festival in 2021), films (Das Fremde by Marcus Josef Weiss, The Mask by Elisabeth Tambwe), performance art (Folding Unfolding by Mario D' Souza), for other ensembles (Die Tänze der Zauberin for the quartet Kammerfunk) and many more. She has collaborated as an arranger and performer with other artists such as Lylit (Austria), Elektro Guzzi (Austria), Dawler x Damper (Colombia), Oscar Jiménez Fernández (Costa Rica), and many more.
As a performer, she has toured in Europe, Switzerland, USA, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Senegal, and many more, with different ensembles playing with renowned artists of different musical genres such as José Carreras, Andrea Bocelli, Serj Tankian, amongst others.
Further academic studies: Architecture (University for Applied Arts, Class Zaha Hadid 2006-2007; Technical University 2007 - 20011), Philosophy (University of Vienna 2008) and Sociology (University of Vienna 2014 - 2016).
FURTHER LINKS
// INTERVIEW: with Walter Pobaschnig: "In der Liebe ist alles erlaubt" Phoebe Violet Künstlerin
// INTERVIEW: with Melissa Danas: Inspiring Performers: Phoebe Violet
// RADIO with Helmut Jasbar: Ö1 HAUSMUSIK: Das ewige Thema der Liebe: Phoebe Violet
// PODCAST: with Paul Cambpell: PODCAST: Leben Ändern: Folge 1: Phoebe Violet Komponisitn & Performerin
// REVIEW: MICA: Phoebe Violet - Entre cielo y tierra
// REVIEW: MICA: Phoebe Violet - Tú y yo - Du und ich