Born and raised in Rheinfelden, Baden-Württemberg, Mutter started playing the violin at age five and continued studies in Germany and Switzerland.

Since Mutter gained prominence in the 1970s and 1980s, she has recorded over 50 albums, mostly with the Deutsche Grammophon label, and performed as a soloist with leading orchestras worldwide and as a recitalist.

As an advocate of contemporary music, she has had several works composed especially for her, by Thomas Adès, Unsuk Chin, Sebastian Currier, Henri Dutilleux, Sofia Gubaidulina, Witold Lutosławski, Norbert Moret, Krzysztof Penderecki, André Previn, Wolfgang Rihm, Jörg Widmann, and John Williams.

At age six, after only one year of study, Mutter won the National Music Prize, and in 1972 she gave her first concert, with the then 343-year-old Musikkollegium Winterthur.

In 1980, Mutter made her American debut with the New York Philharmonic playing Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto under Zubin Mehta.

[9] After three years of her debut with the London Symphony Orchestra in 1980, in which she played Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto under Claudio Abbado, Mutter was named the honorary President of Oxford University's Mozart Society.

[12] Beginning in the late 1980s, Mutter expanded her repertoire and devoted herself more to contemporary works, a focus that would become a significant component of her career.

[14] In 1988, she also made a grand tour of Canada and the United States, performing as a soloist with orchestras[15][16] and giving solo recitals with pianist Lambert Orkis.

[21][22][23][24] By the 1990s, Mutter had established herself as an international star, transitioning from Wunderkind to mature artist[25][26][27] The press described her as a "master of the violin" and "musician of near peerless virtuosity and unimpeachable integrity," with critics noting her glamorous image.

After Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau's flight of fancy, no other serious musician from Germany – gender notwithstanding – has succeeded in rising more quickly from the first floor to the penthouse of the international guild of interpreters.

"[31] In the 1990s, Mutter premiered Wolfgang Rihm's Gesungene Zeit (1992), Sebastian Currier's Aftersong (1994) and Krzysztof Penderecki's Violin Concert No.

[33][34] In 1998 she played and recorded for CD and DVD the complete set of Beethoven's Violin Sonatas (released 1999), accompanied by Lambert Orkis; these were broadcast on television in many countries.

But her increasing work in recent years with living composers has brought a new kind of intellectual energy to her playing, for she was particularly attentive to the bold turns in this youthful music.

[43][44] Other contemporary works dedicated to Mutter that she premiered included Henri Dutilleux's Nocturne for violin and orchestra Sur le même accord (2002) under Kurt Masur conducting the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Sofia Gubaidulina's violin concerto (2007) under Sir Simon Rattle with the Berlin Philharmonic.

The chamber ensemble has toured multiple times throughout different continents in the 2010s, performing modern works and classics such as Vivaldi's Four Seasons.

[68] The same year, Mutter toured Europe with the West–Eastern Divan Orchestra, playing Beethoven's Triple Concerto with Daniel Barenboim and Yo-Yo Ma.

[69][70] In March 2019, Mutter premiered Sebastian Currier's Ghost Trio with Daniel Müller-Schott and Lambert Orkis at Carnegie Hall.

[72][73][74][75][76] Mutter has recently premiered several pieces that have been dedicated to her, including Jörg Widmann's string quartet Studie über Beethoven in Tokyo (2020), John Williams' Concerto for Violin and Orchestra No.

Mutter has performed and made recordings of the major violin concertos by Bach, Bartók, Berg, Brahms, Bruch, Beethoven, Dvořák, Mendelssohn, Mozart, Sibelius, Tchaikovsky, and Vivaldi.

Several pieces have been specially written for or dedicated to her, including Henri Dutilleux's Sur le même accord, Krzysztof Penderecki's Second Violin Concerto, Witold Lutosławski's Chain 2 and the orchestral version of Partita, and Wolfgang Rihm's Gesungene Zeit ("Time Chant"), Lichtes Spiel, and Dyade and Sofia Gubaidulina's Violin Concerto No.

[87] Anne-Sophie Mutter is known for her versatile technique, dynamic range of style, richness of tone and articulate, colorful sound.

[103] Mutter acquired the Emilinia from John & Arthur Beare in London in 1979 and the Lord Dunn-Raven from Bein & Fushi in Chicago in 1984.

Mutter ascribes the personal fit of her Stradivarius violin to the "depths of the colors and the incredible amount of dynamic range.

[111] In 2022, the New York Philharmonic and Mutter performed Jewish music, including Previn's violin concerto at Peenemünde, a former Nazi army research center site.

in 1997 and further established the Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation in 2008, which supports young stringed instrument players and provides scholarships for talented individuals.

[116] Notable former scholarship holders and Mutter's Virtuosi members include violinists Timothy Chooi, Fanny Clamagirand, Vilde Frang, Sergey Khachatryan, Arabella Steinbacher, Noa Wildschut, and Nancy Zhou and cellists Pablo Ferrández, Maximilian Hornung, Linus Roth, Daniel Müller-Schott, and Kian Soltani, among others.