James Creitz

Born into a musical family in Madison, Wisconsin — his father Lowell was cellist with the Pro Arte Quartet and professor at the University of Wisconsin — James Creitz was drawn to the viola from the age of three and began formal studies on the instrument at ten, while also absorbing his father's passion for contemporary art.

After graduating from Yale University cum laude in 1981, he studied with William Primrose, then with Bruno Giuranna at the Musikhochschule Detmold and in Italy. Over a performing career spanning more than three decades, he gave over 1,500 performances as chamber musician and soloist in more than 30 countries, made approximately 20 recordings, and gave dozens of world premieres — including works written for and dedicated to him by Isang Yun, Les Thimmig, Uroš Rojko and others.

As first violist of the Academica Quartet (1983–1993) he recorded extensively for the Alpheus label. He founded the D'Amici Quartet in 2001 with Federico Agostini, Yosuke Kawasaki and Sadao Harada, and performed at Carnegie Hall, La Scala, the Sydney Opera House, Suntory Hall and the Berliner Festwochen. From 1991 to 2023 he was Professor of Viola at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik Trossingen.

Following the close of his performing career in 2015, Creitz turned to painting full-time, developing a visual language rooted in color and abstraction. Influenced by the New York Abstract Expressionists — particularly Helen Frankenthaler — and grounded in Art History studies under Vincent Scully at Yale, his work explores the transformation and metamorphosis he once found in music. He lives and works in Germany.