Danish violinist, Anker Buch, has enjoyed a nearly 60 year long career as one of Scandinavia’s most influential artists and pedagogues.  His impact on Danish string playing can be seen throughout the country’s leading symphonies, conservatories, and chamber music ensembles.   Born in 1940, Mr. Buch began his formal training at the age of eight, under guidance of Rolf Kjeldahl, the concert master of the Aalborg Symphony Orchestra.

At the age of 16, Mr. Buch, was accepted to the Royal Danish Music Conservatory, leaving after only two years to accept a position with the Icelandic Symphony.  Later that year, America Cultural Ambassador, Thor Johnson heard the young violinist in Iceland and immediately recommended the young Dane to join the studio of legendary professor, Ivan Galamian, at the Juliard School of Music in New York City.  Five years of intensive study followed with a class of students that included Itzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zukerman, Kyung-Wha Chung, and many others.  Mr. Buch’s  additional talents as a comedic entertainer with the violin were also discovered in that period and resulted in numerous appearances on coast to coast American television broadcasts, including the ‘Tonight Show with Johnny Carson’ and  ‘The Merv  Griffin Show’.

After his highly-acclaimed 1964 Town Hall recital debut Mr. Buch, decided to settle in Denmark and continue his violin career there.  The overwhelming success of the debut, however, resulted in numerous invitations to return to the United States and the rest of the world.  Since that time, Anker Buch has performed more than 7,000 concerts world-wide.

Mr. Buch was also the first recipient of the prestigious Jacob Gade Prize in 1964.  Since that time he was honored with numerous additional prizes and awards.  In 2000, Mr. Buch, continued the tradition of helping young Danish artists, when in conjunction with his 60th Birthday he created the Anker Buch  Prize.  The Anker Buch Prize is dispersed to gifted Danish artists for study and career development.

Perhaps the greatest cultural contribution to Danish string playing was the creation of his International Summer School on the island of Mors.  Over the course of 23 years, Mr. Buch passed on Galamian’s principles of violin playing and teaching to three generations of some of the finest string players in the world.  These include Royal Danish Concert Master, Lars Bjornkjaer, international soloist, Nikolaj Znaider, acclaimed Danish-American violinist Odin Rathnam, among countless others.

Mr. Buch’s teaching legacy continues today with young  emerging Danish violinists Niklas Walletin, Susanja  Beatrix Neilsen, David Bogorad, Philippe Skou, Signe Andersen, Ann-Sophie Andersen, Monica Malmqvist, and many more.