Vienna Symphony appoints Mohamed Hiber as first concertmaster

The French violinist takes up the post with immediate effect after appearing with the Wiener Symphoniker as a guest concertmaster.

The Vienna Symphony has appointed Mohamed Hiber as its first concertmaster. The orchestra announced the appointment on social media and now lists Hiber in the role on its official roster. The appointment took effect immediately, The Violin Channel reported on November 5.

Hiber already knows the orchestra from the first desk. He has appeared as its guest concertmaster and has served in the same capacity with the Munich Philharmonic, London’s Philharmonia Orchestra and the Orchestre de Paris.

From the West-Eastern Divan to Vienna

Born in Pantin, near Paris, in 1995, Hiber joined Daniel Barenboim’s West-Eastern Divan Orchestra in 2010 and became one of its concertmasters in 2019. He was also a fellow of the Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation and served as concertmaster of Mutter’s Virtuosi ensemble.

Hiber studied with Ana Chumachenco at the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía in Madrid and later at Munich’s University of Music and Performing Arts, where he earned his master’s degree. He plays the ex Maria Lidka, a violin made by Giovanni Battista Guadagnini in Turin in 1780 and loaned to him by a member of the Stretton Society.