DAVID GARRETT

He combines rock-star charisma with the kind of virtuosity innate only to the finest instrumentalists of our time.

Admired by fans around the world, he has sold millions of tickets and more than 5 million albums, achieved over 5.65 billion career streams worldwide, and earned 32 gold and 14 platinum awards in countries including Hong Kong, Germany, Mexico, Taiwan, Brazil and Singapore.

Garrett’s crossover language is rooted in a rigorous classical education. Having studied at the Juilliard School in New York under Itzhak Perlman, he made a deliberate artistic choice to bring the classical tradition into dialogue with the music of his own time. Rather than moving between two separate genres, he consciously unites classical virtuosity with the energy of pop and rock — an approach that resonates closely with the concept of BIAF’s second season, built around encounter, dialogue and the meeting of different artistic worlds.

At BIAF, David Garrett will present Millennium Symphony — Crossover Programmetogether with the Orchestra of the Sofia Gubaidulina Center for Contemporary Music. He considers the programme the next step in his personal “crossover evolution”. Few artists embody the fusion of symphonic music and popular culture as naturally, bringing these two worlds together on a grand scale.

The programme brings together music by some of the most iconic artists and composers across pop, rock, classical and film music in a monumental and genre-spanning retrospective in a class of its own: The White Stripes, Beyoncé, Maroon 5, Shawn Mendes, Harry Styles, Tones and I, Hozier, Avicii, Ed Sheeran, Luis Fonsi feat. Daddy Yankee, Rammstein, The Weeknd, Rihanna, Destiny’s Child, Måneskin, Nirvana, Aerosmith, Michael Jackson, Ludwig van Beethoven, Hans Zimmer, David Guetta and Taylor Swift — a symphonic tribute to the artists and composers whose music has shaped generations.