Biographie (englisch)

At the age of 6, Skerdjano Keraj received his first violin lessons at the "Liceu Artistik Jordan Misja", a music boarding school for highly gifted children in Tirana. After passing his final artistic examinations with distinction in violin and chamber music with Prof. Andreas Reiner at the Folkwang Hochschule Essen, he passed his concert examinations with Prof. Werner Scholz in Berlin and Rostock, also with distinction.
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Keraj was awarded the Folkwang Prize for Music in 2001 and is a prize winner of the International Competition for Chamber Music in Thessaloniki.
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From 2003 to 2015, he was concertmaster of the Aachen Symphony Orchestra and the Pfalztheater Kaiserslautern. As a guest concertmaster, he has performed with the Stuttgart Philharmonic Orchestra, the WDR Radio Orchestra Cologne, the Düsseldorf Symphony Orchestra and together with the SWR Symphony Orchestra Stuttgart. In addition, engagements as soloist, chamber musician and concertmaster have taken him to other European countries.
He is a regular member of the jury at the International Violin Competition "Queen Sophie Charlotte" in Mirow, at the "Szymon Goldberg International Competition for Violin and Viola" in Meissen and at the International Competition for Violin and Viola in Stuttgart and at the International Competition for Violin Kloster Schöntal and follows as a guest professor invitations to master classes in Italy, France, Poland and Germany.
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Since 2008 Skerdjano Keraj teaches violin, chamber music and orchestral literature at the Aachen location of the HfMT Cologne, since 2015 he holds a full professorship for violin. He is associate dean and deputy director at the Aachen location.
His students are prize winners of international competitions and have received engagements as concertmasters, auditioners, part leaders, tuttists and academy players in renowned orchestras.