From early baroque to contemporary music, German violinist Thomas Reif is equally sought after for his work as soloist, concertmaster and chamber musician.

As a soloist, Thomas has performed with the Orchestre Royal de Chambre de Wallonie, the National Orchestra of Belgium, the Münchener Rundfunkorchester, the Symphony Orchestra of Carinthia and the Salzburg Chamber Soloists under the batons of Marin Alsop, Paul Meyer, Garret Keast, Bruno Weil, Ulrich Windfuhr and Douglas Boyd.

Thomas was a prize winner at national and international competitions, including the Queen Elisabeth Competiton in Brussels (Laureate, 2015), the International Mozart Competition Salzburg (2. Prize, 2016), the Leopold Mozart Competition in Germany (3rd Prize, 2013), the Elise Meyer Competition in Hamburg/Germany (1st Prize, 2012), the Johannes Brahms Competiton in Pörtschach/Austria (1st Prize, 2010) and the Ruggiero Ricci Competition in Salzburg/Austria (1st Prize, 2009).

He is critically acclaimed for his performances of contemporary works by Peter Michael Hamel, Alban Berg, Beat Furrer or Esa-Pekka Salonen and recently played the violin concerto by the french composer Bernard Cavanna with the Ensemble KNM Berlin.

On the other hand he loves the early baroque music, which he performs as the first violinist and co-founder of the ensemble c4. Together with harpsichord player Alexander Gergelyfi he interprets baroque chamber and orchestral music in new and daring ways, combining music and poetry as well as multimedia to make interesting and unexpected programs.

Thomas has served as guest-concertmaster of the Munich Chamber Orchestra, the Vienna Chamber Orchestra, the Kurpfälzische Kammerorchester Mannheim and the Camerata Hamburg, playing in the Berliner Philharmonie, the Prinzregententheater of Munich, the Suntory Hall, Tokyio Opera City Concert Hall and Sapporo Concert Hall in Japan with conductors such as Alexander Liebreich, Stefan Vladar and Johannes Schlaefli.

Being passionate about chamber music, he regularly appears on festivals such as Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Verbier Festival Academy, Classique Puplinge, Festivo Chiemgau, Eggenfelden Klassisch und „Harriet and friends“ and played together with Clemens Hagen, Lukas Hagen, Herbert Schuch, Johannes Erkes, Danilo Marchello und Laszlo Kuti.

He has participated in masterclasses with Midori, Prof. Igor Ozim, Ferenc Rados, Prof. Gerhard Schulz, Pamela Franck, Prof. Zakhar Bron and Prof. Christian Altenburger and recieved scholarships of the Alfred-Toepfer-Stiftung Hamburg, the Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes and was awarded the „Ian Stoutzker Prize in Memory of Yehudi Menuhin“ in Salzburg in 2012.

In 2017 he will be performing at festivals such as "harriet&friends" in Austria, as well as "Festivo" in Bavaria. Furthermore he will give his debut in the Konzerthaus Berlin with Beethoven's Violin Concerto in March 2018.

Thomas studied in Salzburg and Hamburg with Prof. Harald Herzl and Prof. Tanja Becker-Bender. He is currently earning his Konzertexamen at the Hochschule Hanns Eisler in Berlin with Prof. Stephan Picard. 

He plays a violin by Lorenzo Storioni from around 1780.