‘If you can make sound tell a story it becomes music, and were Daniel Weltlinger not a musician, he would still be a story-teller…he uses notes the way a supremely elegant writer – say, Austen or Orwell – uses words, so the sounds, rhythms and sentence constructions dovetail with the meaning so perfectly that the reader’s eye dances effortlessly along each line.’
John Shand – Sydney Morning Herald
‘Violinist Daniel Weltlinger composes and plays new material in the tradition of Django Reinhardt, but with a look to the future.’
George W. Harris – Jazz Weekly
‘The violin sings in the hands of Daniel Weltlinger like no other.‘
Peter Winkler – Music Trust Online
Born in Sydney, Australia in 1977, and of French-Hungarian Jewish family background, the critically acclaimed Berlin-based violinist and composer-producer Daniel Weltlinger has long been renowned for his distinctive warm sound and innovative expressive improvisations within the genres of Gypsy-swing, jazz, Balkan-Yiddish-klezmer and experimental/free-improvised music. He is frequently in demand in a performance or recording capacity, often in collaboration with an array of top musicians and ensembles in a variety of different formats, and is highly sought after for his technical and musical mastery on his main instrument.
Weltlinger grew up as a small child completely enchanted by his maternal grandfather‘s violin playing, and took up the instrument at the age of 5. He intensely studied Classical music, beginning classes at the age of 8 at the Preparatory Department of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music studying under Sam Podjarski, Alice Waten and Janet Davies, and went on to complete a Bachelor of Music in Classical music at the Conservatorium, graduating in 2001. Several years previous to finishing his studies he discovered an affinity for jazz and improvised music as well as the music he had grown up with as a child, and since this time he has performed and recorded in countless major concert halls, theatres, festivals and clubs in a variety of different formations across Australia, New Zealand, Europe, China, Morocco, Turkey, the US and Israel. He continues to collaborate with a wide range of renowned artists and ensembles including the German-Sinti guitarist and composer Lulo Reinhardt, Berlin based German/Yiddish Chanson singer Karsten Troyke and singer-actress Sharon Brauner, the Berlin based big band Moka Efti Orchestra, Polish-Australian East-European folk-soul-jazz singer Nadya Golski and the Australian multi-ARIA Award-winning Gyp-rock band Monsieur Camembert amongst many others. He runs the independent record label Rectify Records, which produced the album ‘Koblenz’ nominated as amongst one of the best albums of 2015 in Downbeat Magazine, and in addition to leading various projects under his own name continues to record and perform with the Australian based experimental hip hop band ‘The Asthmatix’ with long-time close friends and musical colleagues, pianist/keyboardist Daniel ‘Planeface’ Pliner and turntablist Micha ‘Morphingaz’ Walter.
Weltlinger’s unique sound has been regularly featured on radio and television worldwide and featured on the award winning soundtrack composed by Nikko Weidemann and Mario Kamien for the hit TV show ‘Babylon Berlin‘ directed by Tom Tykwer, Achim von Borries and Henk Handloegten which premiered in October 2017 on the Sky Television Network. Further film, documentary and theatre soundtrack credentials have included amongst others ‘Love My Way’ (Stephen Rae), ‘The Underpants’ (Alan John), ‘Uncle Chatzkel’ (Guy Gross), ‘Peking To Paris’ (Roger Mason), ‘The Cat That Walked By Himself’ (Peter Winkler) and ‘Meet The Waks Family’ (Neill Duncan). Weltlinger has had endorsements from a number of top international companies and benefited in 2010-2017 from the support of BNP Paribas in Australia and the BNP Paribas Foundation in Paris for the development of a trilogy of recordings – ‘Souvenirs’ (2011), ‘Koblenz’ (2014) and ‘Samoreau‘ (2017) – in which he wrote original music and arrangements inspired by the music of the legendary Belgian born Manouche guitarist-composer Django Reinhardt. His last album ‘Szolnok’ which in music tells the remarkable true story of his grandfather’s violin generated a further sponsorship from BNP Paribas in Central Europe in late 2018, and was released on May 3rd, 2019. The album was released to widespread critical acclaim both in Europe and Australia, and was nominated for the Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik.
Weltlinger has had further sponsorships with the Danish microphone manufacturer DPA microphones, US string instrument manufacturer Saga instruments as well as the Scottish acoustic amplification and electric violin manufacturer Skyinbow acoustic pickups. He is a regular co-composer with long time close colleague, the Australian producer-composer Bruce Maginnis for a number of international production music library houses including Audio Network, Fable, Cavendish Music, The Funky Junkies, Intervox, Focus Music, Home Of Happy and Addictive Tracks.
Further artists and ensembles he has shared the stage and/or recorded with have included:
Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Sydney Scoring Orchestra, Australian Youth Orchestra, Pinchas Zuckerman, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Larry Rachleff, Mikko Franck, Robert Spano, Wolfgang Christ, José Feliciano, Marianne Rosenberg, Bettina Wegner, Katharine Mehrling, Suzanna Meier, Dotschy Reinhardt, Eric Manana, Miki Gavrielov, Sangeet Mishra, Taraf de Haïdouks, Klezmatics, Dzambo Aguzevi Orchestar, Foaie Verde, SistaNagila, Time Rag Department, Andrej Hermlin, David Hermlin and his Swing Dance Orchestra, Whiskey Moonface, Korey Ireland, Daniel Kahn, Masha Raykhman, Mitya Gerasimov, Stochelo Rosenberg, Joscho Stephan, Paulus Schäfer, Lollo Meier, Mike Reinhardt, Sascha Reinhardt, Moro Reinhardt, Taylor Paucken, Jermaine Reinhardt, Christiano Gitano, Diego Reinhardt, Rino van Hooijdonk, Simone Magliozzi, Gaël Rouilhac, Janko Lauenberger, Lello Franzen, Rigo Winterstein, Ricky Adler, Feigeli Prisor, Mogeli Geisler, Smeily Adler, Douglas Martin, Fredi Gebhart, Alexey Krupsky, Daniel Stelter, Yuliya Lonskaya, Itamar Erez, Ian Date, Nigel Date, Cameron Jones, Peter Baylor, Jon Delaney, Caley Groves, Reuben Derrick, Phil Slater, Jim Denley, Kenneth Dahl Knudsen, Ingrid Halle, Roland Satterwhite, Sebastian Peszko, Joaquin Amenabar, Gene Pritsker, Jstar, Taylor Savvy, LMNZ, Aiko Aiko, Pascal Holper, Marian Tone, Tristan Honsinger, OE, Edouard Bronson, Ilan Kidron, Buddy Bolden Revival Orchestra, Fuego Lento, Waiting For Guinness, On The Stoop, Swing de Gitanes, Ensemble Olivinn and many more.