Edin Karamazov

Guitarist and lutenist Eden Karamazov is noted for his wide variety of collaborations with top early music ensembles, singers, and even the rock vocalist <a href="spotify:artist:0Ty63ceoRnnJKVEYP0VQpk">Sting</a>. He has made several solo recordings.

Karamazov was born in Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina, then part of Yugoslavia, in 1965. A protege of the conductor <a href="spotify:artist:6Aqj71kXAhQv3GncDt9gfx">Sergiu Celibidache</a> during his student years, he began his studies on the guitar and won several competitions. He added Baroque lute to his portfolio, studying with <a href="spotify:artist:7zcQ4msi1fjUPlCYypzkNy">Hopkinson Smith</a> at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. A breakthrough came in 1998 when he substituted for an ailing <a href="spotify:artist:6vjF8XdNoqVRj5G021FBM6">Julian Bream</a>. Karamazov began to appear widely in concert around Europe, and a pair of collaborative recordings brought him considerable celebrity: he backed superstar countertenor <a href="spotify:artist:2LnE7uKchgVW2Uv7vzwixZ">Andreas Scholl</a> on the 2001 album Wayfaring Stranger, and in 2007, he was heard with <a href="spotify:artist:0Ty63ceoRnnJKVEYP0VQpk">Sting</a> on The Journey and the Labyrinth, an album of <a href="spotify:artist:1mhwtKvBm1ncoOrUtnQUgk">Dowland</a>'s lute music with a dramatic concept that was later developed into a film. Karamazov's 2008 solo album The Lute Is a Song featured guest appearances by <a href="spotify:artist:3SK3gLBgy1jRuA4VnLlcs8">Renée Fleming</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:0Ty63ceoRnnJKVEYP0VQpk">Sting</a> once again, and singer-songwriter Kaliopi (on whose 2009 album Oblivion he appeared).

Karamazov's repertory ranges from the 16th century to the present day. He has appeared with leading early music groups, including <a href="spotify:artist:6P09QK8EvzRliYA86yl6nt">Hesperion XXI</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:3kC7VaScP8y69rzg0vsswQ">L'Arpeggiata</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:0L8W3JzyTX29RLKZgc3bqS">The Hilliard Ensemble</a>. He has performed at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, London's Wigmore Hall, and the Philharmonie in Berlin, among other major halls, and he has accompanied singers such as <a href="spotify:artist:3HWeELXhNJpGs2W9JViW2Z">Arianna Savall</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:03wei1gynOPSup8cERYf0Z">Nuria Rial</a> (whom he backed on the 2020 album Con Guitarra) in addition to <a href="spotify:artist:2LnE7uKchgVW2Uv7vzwixZ">Scholl</a>. Karamazov has also collaborated with the women's vocal group Klapa Cesarice. In 2021, he accompanied recorder player <a href="spotify:artist:4tNu4aa5uCnB7nNN81jpYl">Dorothee Oberlinger</a> on the <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Harmonia+Mundi%22">Harmonia Mundi</a> album Dialoge: Johann Sebastian Bach. Karamazov still sometimes plays the lute on the street, a habit he began during his student years. ~ James Manheim, Rovi