Lorenz Karls was born in Vienna into an Swedish-Austrian family. At the age of 16, he made his debut at the Mozart Week in Salzburg in the Great Hall of the Mozarteum Foundation, followed by concerts with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Auckland
Philharmonia Orchestra, Lithuanian National Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Odense Symphony Orchestra, Ferenc Liszt Chamber Orchestra and Camerata Bern, to name a few.

He has won numerous prizes at national and international competitions, including seven 1st to 3rd prizes at member competitions of the World Federation of International Music Competitions including both renowned international Mozart Competitions in Salzburg and Zhuhai. He was a finalist in the world’s most high-prized competition, the Classic Violin
Olympus International Competition, which took place in Dubai in 2025.

Lorenz performs on a very rare violin made from 30,000-year-old kauri wood from New Zealand. The wood has been buried deep underground since the end of the last ice age, enclosed in a chemically balanced environment that has preserved the wood in almost perfect condition. There are only a few such instruments in the world and thanks to the kind support of the Rotter Foundation, Lorenz has been granted one of them.