Katariina Maria Kits (Katariina Kits) is an Estonian violinist born (in
Tallinn, Estonia) on May 2, 1995. She is
known for having more than 815,000 views on a YouTube post when she was only 15
years old. Here is that post. Unless I am seriously mistaken, she is still
a student at one of five music conservatories (I don’t know which one) in
Trossingen, Germany, although she has been concertizing since she was a
teenager. She is also known to love
violin competitions. I do not know at
what age she first began her violin studies but in 2002 she entered the Tallinn
Music School. She was 7 years old. Her first teacher there was Marge Lille. She has studied (in masterclasses) with Pavel
Vernikov* in Italy and Alf Kraggerud in Norway.
Kits won second prize in the Estonian National String Competition when
she was barely 11 years old. A year
later she won second prize in the Enescu Violin Competition in Romania. She has already toured Europe and Australia
as soloist with different orchestras. Here is an outstanding video of hers playing the 5th Mozart concerto in a competition. It is a mesmerizing and memorable performance (second to none) and it is not yet on YouTube. It is quite possible (although I don't know for sure) that Kits has a twin brother who is a cellist with whom she sometimes performs. Kits speaks three languages fluently - German, French, and English. As
do other young prominent violinists, she plays a modern violin made in Cremona,
Italy, in 2007.
