PROKOFIEV – Five Melodies
PROKOFIEV – Violin Sonata No. 2 in D Major, Op. 94a
FRANCK – Sonata in A Major for Violin & Piano
RAVEL – Tzigane
Universally hailed as one of the world’s finest musicians, and often referred to as the greatest living string player in the world today, Grammy award winner Maxim Vengerov also enjoys international acclaim as a conductor and is one of the most in-demand soloists.
Born in 1974, he began his career as a solo violinist at the age of five, won the Wieniawski and Carl Flesch international competitions at ages 10 and 15 respectively, studied with Galina Tourchaninova and Zakhar Bron, made his first recording at the age of 10, and went on to record extensively for high-profile labels including Melodia, Teldec and EMI, earning among others, Grammy and Gramophone artist of the year awards.
In 2007 he followed in the footsteps of his mentor, the late Mstislav Rostropovich, and turned his attention to conducting and in 2010 was appointed the first chief conductor of the Gstaad Festival Orchestra. June 2014 saw Mr Vengerov graduate with a Diploma of Excellence from the Moscow Institute of Ippolitov-Ivanov with professor Yuri Simonov and he has since finished a further 2-year program of opera conducting.
Highlights of recent seasons saw Mr Vengerov opening the season of the Orchestra Filarmonica della Scala with Maestro Chailly, a Residence with Monte Carlo Philharmonic and the Philharmonie in Paris as well as a world wide recital tours. Highlights of the 22/23 season saw him in an extensive US and Canadian recital tour including Berkeley, Kansas City, New York and Toronto, and an 11 concerts tour in the UK. Other orchestral performances as a soloist include Montreal, Vienna, London, Paris and Taiwan and chamber music concerts with Evgeny Kissin and Stephen Isserliss at Carngie Hall, and in Switzerland with Simon Trpcesky and Stephen Isserliss. He also joined Aspen and Bravo Vale Festival in the States this summer in Recital, Masterclasses and Concerto performance with Fabio Luisi and the Dallas SO and celebrated 40 years on stage at a sold out Royal Albert Hall concert performing both Brahms Violin concerto and Brahms Double Concerto. In 2023/24 he opened the Shanghai International Festival with Christoph Eschenbach, and embarked on another world wide Recital tour including America, South America, Europe, Asia and Australia and orchestra concerts in amongst others in Vienna, Paris and Milan.
This season will see him return in Recital tour to the US including Berkeley, Boston, New York, as well as concerts at La Scala, the Musikverein Vienna and an extensive tour in Australia New Zealand, Singapore and China for his 50th Birthday celebrations.
Highlights of the 24/25 season will be the start of a 3 Perspective at Carnegie Hall with over 12 concerts, starting with all Mozart concertos this November over two evenings and ending with all Beethoven Sonatas in 2027. His Perspective will also see him partner up with various famous chamber music partners, including Evgeny Kissin, Yefim Bronfman and Martha Argerich.
In 2020 Maxim Vengerov became Classic FM’s first solo Artist in Residence and released a new recording of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto with conductor Myung-Whun Chung and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, coupled with works by Saint-Säens and Ravel as well as a live recital from Carnegie Hall.
As one of Mr. Vengerov’s greatest passions is the teaching and encouraging of young talent, he has held various teaching positions around the world. He currently holds the Stephan and Viktoria Schmidheiny Stiftungsprofessor at the Mozarteum University Salzburg and since September 2016 he is also the Polonsky Visiting Professor of Violin at the Royal College of Music in London. In 2018 Maxim Vengerov became the Goodwill Ambassador of the Musica Mundi School – a unique institution, which supports young talents. With the vision of democratizing the access of music learning, he launched his own online platform in January 2021:www.maximvengerov.com and created an impact across 170 countries and over 190 million reach. His first year programs include partnerships with musical institutions from around the world, the Lottery Ticket program, guest artist series inaugurated with Brett Yang from TwoSet Violin, as well as his new global community group who’s initiatives include the world leading Mentoring program, rural musical communities initiative and the Musical Pen Pals program for children.
Mr. Vengerov has been profiled in a series of documentaries, including Playing by Heart, which was recorded by Channel Four Television and screened at the Cannes Television Festival in 1999, and Living the Dream, which was released worldwide and received the Gramophone Award for Best Documentary in 2008.
Mr. Vengerov has received prestigious fellowships and honors from a number of institutions. In 2012 he was awarded an Honorary Visiting Fellowship at Trinity College Oxford and in 2019 he received an Honorary Doctorate from the Royal College of Music London and in 2019 he received an Honorary Doctorate from the Royal College of Music London and the Order of Cultural Merit from the Palace Monte Carlo.
Mr. Vengerov has also received numerous awards including Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist Performance (with Orchestra) (2003), two Gramophone awards (1994, 1995), a Classical Brit Award (2004), five Edison Classical Music Awards (1995, 1996, 1998, 2003, 2004), two ECHO awards (1997, 2003) and a World Economic Forum Crystal award (2007) – honoring artists who have used their art to improve the state of the world.
He plays the ex-Kreutzer Stradivari (1727) among other instruments.
In the 2024/2025 concert season, Polina makes her debuts in Australia, Singapore, and Brazil and comes back to the United States with a recital tour along with a tour with her colleague Maxim Vengerov. She also has a series of her debuts with new recitals at festivals and at Konzerthaus in Austria, takes part in a big project dedicated to 5 Prokofiev concertos in Germany in Theater Altenburg Gera, and plays concerts in Italy, Belgium, and Germany.
Ms. Osetinskaya has performed at Vienna’s Musikverein, London’s Barbican Centre, Rome’s Teatro Argentina, as well as in Italy, Germany, Poland, The USA, Russia and Israel. Ms. Osetinskaya has appeared with musicAeterna, Mariinsky Orchestra, Evgeny Svetlanov Symphony Orchestra and Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, among others.
Onstage partners have included Teodor Currentzis, Laurent Petitgirard, Vladimir Spivakov, Andrey Boreyko, Dmitry Liss, Yan Pascal Tortelier. Ms. Osetinskaya has released recordings with the Quartz, Naxos, Sony Music, Bel-Aire, and Melodiya labels.
Internationally acclaimed pianist Polina Osetinskaya began her career at the age of five and was soon acclaimed as a wunderkind in the former Soviet Union. She gave her first concert at the age of six and entered the Central Music School of the Moscow Conservatory at the age of seven. The first teacher of Ms. Osetinskaya was her father Oleg Osetinsky, then she continued her studies at the Leningrad Conservatory with Marina Wolf and later at the Moscow Conservatory with Vera Gornostaeva.
“The virtuoso violinist first performed on stage at five — four decades on, he’s still learning new tricks.”
Enjoy Vengerov’s videos on YouTube: