Simone von Rahden enjoys a versatile career as a chamber musician, soloist, orchestral musician and teacher.

Born in Karlsruhe/Germany, she studied viola with Wolfram Christ at the Musikhochschule Freiburg and then continued her studies with Tabea Zimmermann at the Hochschule für Musik „Hanns Eisler“ Berlin, where she has been holding a teaching position since 2014.

When she exchanged the violin for the viola, age 9, she soon formed her first string quartet and quickly discovered her love for the communicative role of a middle voice and the complex sound world of the lower instrument.
Thus, she has performed in some of the most prestigious halls and chamber music festivals around the world alongside musicians such as Sir Andras Schiff, Kristian Bezuidenhout, Isabelle Faust, Lorenza Borrani, Matthew Truscott, Tabea Zimmermann, Wolfram Christ, Julian Steckel, Christoph Richter, Lorenzo Coppola, Clara Andrada de la Calle, the Altenberg Trio, the Chagall Quartett and the Amaryllis Quartett, among many others. She is a member of the Quartetto Bernardini, Ensemble Promena and of “Spunicunifait“, a chamber ensemble dedicated to the study and performance of Mozart's six string quintets on period instruments.

Simone von Rahden has been a member of Lucerne Festival Orchestra 2003-2011, Orchestra Mozart Bologna 2004-2012, the Spira mirabilis project since 2007 and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe 2009-2017. In 2016, she was appointed principal viola in the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and kept the position until 2021.
As a soloist with orchestra, she has appeared with the Baden-Badener Philharmonie, the Philharmonie Südwestfalen, the Hamburger Camerata, „El Teatre Instrumental“ Barcelona, the English Haydn Orchestra, the Swedish Chamber Orchestra and the WDR Sinfonieorchester Cologne.

Further to her teaching position at the Hochschule "Hanns Eisler" Berlin, she also joined the music faculty of the "Hochschule für Musik und Theater" Rostock in October 2020. From October 2023, she will be appointed professor of chamber music for strings at the hmt Rostock.