Winfried Rademacher is the 2017 ECHO KLASSIK award winner with his "Linos Ensemble". This award recognizes the incomparable career of this exceptional
ensemble, which has earned an excellent reputation both on the international stage and in the recording studio, for a stylistically limitless mixed chamber music repertoire with strings, wind instruments and piano. Winfried Rademacher studied with Josef Suk (Vienna), Sándor Végh (Salzburg), on courses with Nathan Milstein (Zurich) and with members of the Amadeus Quartet (Cologne). After numerous awards, including the "German Music Competition" and the BBC in London, he takes part in international music life in a variety of ways. He has held concertmaster positions in renowned orchestras such as the NDR Hamburg under Günter Wand, the Munich Philharmonic under S. Celibidache, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe under Claudio Abaddo, the SWR Stuttgart under Sir Roger Norrington and the Tonhalle Orchestra under David Zinman. Norrington brought him to the Camerata Salzburg in 1998 as concertmaster. There he was also entrusted with conducting the orchestra from the podium, which brought him together with soloists such as Joshua Bell, Murray Perahia and Christian Tetzlaff.

Since 2001 he has continued this work with the renowned Zurich Chamber Orchestra. Since his early membership in the Cherubini Quartet, he has been a highly asked chamber music partner alongside the Linos Ensemble on international stages and music festivals, such as the Berlin Festival, Lockenhaus, Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, Gstaad and Shanghai Festival, where he has performed with stars such as Elisabeth Leonskaja, Istvan Vardai, Radu Lupu and Sabine Mayer in concert. Steven Isserlis has again invited him to his "open chamber music" weeks in Prussia Cove, England. Since 2004 he has been playing with the Razumovsky Ensemble London, with whom he made his debut at the Wigmore Hall in London. Composers such as Isang Yun, Jean Francaix and Wolfgang Rihm composed for his Ensembles whose reputation has been built on numerous award-winning CDs (capriccio, EMI, Naxos, ambitus and CPO) and radio recordings. Particular attention was paid to a "world premiere recording" of Alban Berg's violin concerto in a version for solo violin and chamber ensemble, as well as a version of Max Reger's violin concerto in the version by Rudolf Kolisch, which was recorded together with the Linos Ensemble.

In 1986 he accepted a professorship for violin and viola at the music academy in Lübeck, and in 1993 he changed to the music academy in Trossingen. Since 2006 he has also been a lecturer at the Razumovsky Academy, London, at the Barrattt Due Institute in Oslo and at the Music Academy in Basel. Guest- professorships also connect him with the conservatories in Shanghai and Beijing.
Winfried Rademacher plays a Nicolo Gagliano violin from 1733.