Biography

Frieda Magdalene Hollmer was born in 2014 in Cologne into a family of musicians. She chose the violin and piano as her instruments and has been receiving piano lessons from Maria Zeidler-Kröll since 2019. In the same year, she began studying violin with Michaela Zirnbauer and has been a student of Emir Imerov since 2023.
In 2022, Frieda was additionally admitted to the network of the University of Music and Theatre Rostock (HfM Rostock), where she is taught by Prof. Henja Semmler. She is a scholarship holder in both instruments supported by the International Music Academy Liechtenstein, the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben, the Haspa Music Foundation, and the Familie-Rahe Foundation. Frieda is a Young Artist in Residence at HMT Rostock (YARO 2025).
She has received further inspiration in masterclasses with, among others, Prof. Ruben Dalibaltayan, Prof. Ingolf Turban, Prof. Wolfgang Manz, Prof. Jacques Ammon, Prof. Annette von Hehn, Prof. Mikhail Ovrutsky, and Prof. Michael Foyle.
Between 2020 and 2025, Frieda won first prizes with the highest scores in multiple categories of the “Jugend musiziert” competition, including string ensembles (trio and duo), piano and string duo, piano trio, piano four hands, violin solo, and piano solo.
In 2022, she received first prizes in several competitions, including the 20th Westphalian van Bremen Piano Competition in Dortmund, the 6th Thürmer Piano Competition in Bochum, and the Hamburg Instrumental Competition (piano and violin, with distinction and the special prize “Young Pianists”), as well as second prize at the 8th Bechstein Competition in Berlin.
In 2023, she received first prize with distinction (violin) at the Young Competition Rostock. In the same year, she won first prize at the 1st International Piano Competition Kronberg, second prize at the 7th Thürmer Piano Competition in Bochum, and first prizes (violin and piano) in the solo categories of the 6th Konrad Adenauer Competition in Cologne.
Also in 2023, Frieda and her brother Oscar were awarded the Wuppertal Youth Culture Prize and the Chamber Music Promotion Prize of North Rhine-Westphalia. Together they form a permanent string and piano duo.
In 2024, she received first prize as well as the special prize for contemporary composition at the 10th Carl Bechstein Competition in Berlin, and first prize (violin) plus a jury special prize at the Al Hoffmann Young Competition in Rostock. At the state competition “Jugend komponiert” 2024, two of her compositions received first prize. She was a semifinalist at the International Violin Competition “Piccolo Violino Magico” 2024 in Italy and again received the Wuppertal Youth Culture Prize in 2024.
In 2024, she made her debut with the Accademia d’Archi Arrigoni in San Vito al Tagliamento, Italy. She also performed as a soloist with Vivaldi’s Winter at the annual conference of German early education institutes in the chamber music hall of the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen (“35 Years Since the Fall of the Wall”). She has given concerts at venues including the University of Music and Dance Cologne, the Neue Aula and chamber music hall of the Folkwang University of the Arts, Alte Küsterhaus Meerbusch, Tersteegenhaus Cologne, Sancta Clara Keller Cologne, HfM Rostock, Auditorium H. Zotti in San Vito al Tagliamento (Italy), Schloss Libermé (Belgium), Cologne Philharmonie, the historic town halls of Münster and Cologne, the Historische Stadthalle Wuppertal, Peter Kaiser Hall in Eschen (Liechtenstein), Schloss Britz Berlin, Thürmer Hall Bochum, the Carl Bechstein Hall and the Grand Hall of the Casals Forum at Kronberg Academy, the Peter Kaiser Concert Hall of the Music Academy in Liechtenstein, and the Small Hall of the Berlin Konzerthaus.
In December 2024, Frieda performed at the “Espresso Concerts” at the Konzerthaus Berlin and played together with her brother Oscar Benjamin at the “Highlights of Classical Music 2024” in Schaan, SAL Saal am Lindaplatz, Liechtenstein, at the year-end concert of the Music Academy in Liechtenstein.
In 2025, she performed at the inauguration ceremony of the new building and the new Bösendorfer grand piano of the Rheinische Musikschule Cologne. In May 2025, she is scheduled to appear as a soloist with the Brandenburg Philharmonic Orchestra performing Mozart’s Violin Concerto in G major KV 216 as part of Klanglabor.