Amongst conductors and orchestras world-wide Detlef Tewes’s name is synonyumus with the virtuoso mandolin. He completed his Studies with a performance diploma at the Cologne School of Music in 1989, but 1979 he had already won first prize in the German national competition „Jugend musiziert“ as well as the Culture Prize of the City Essen and, in 1983 another prize in the German Federal Republic’s 28th annual contest for „Young Soloist on the Podium“. In addition to his solorecitals, widely documented in radio and television broadcasts and CD recordings, Detlef Tewes regularly works with conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Pierre Bou-lez, Michael Gielen, Peter Eötvös, Lorin Maazel, Kent Nagano and Simon Rattle and with leading orchestras. He lays particular emphasis on his involment with 20th-century music, with Berlin Philharmonic’s Scharoun Ensemble, the Ensemble Klangforum Wien, the Elision Ensemble Melbourne and above all the Ensemble Modern of Frankfurt/Main, with whom he has collaborated in several premiers including Frank Zappa’s The Yellow Shark. With recitals, as soloist and as Artistic Director and conductor of several mandolin orchestras Detlef Tewes has undertaken concert tours throughout Europe, the USA, Brazil, Venezuela, Japan China, Korea and Australia.