Tombstone of Vaslav Nijinsky in Montmartre Cemetery in Paris. The statue, donated by Serge Lifar, shows Nijinsky as the puppet Petrushka.

Petrushka (Russian: Петрушка) is a stock character of Russian folk puppetry (rayok) known at least since 17th century. Petrushkas were used as marionettes, as well as hand puppets. Traditionally he was a kind of a jester distinguished by red dress, red kolpak, and often a long nose.

Word origin[link]

Although the Russian word "petrushka" has a homonym meaning "parsley," in this context the word is actually a hypocoristic for "Pyotr" (Пётр), which is Peter in Russian. However, the character has little or nothing in common with such stock characters as Petruccio or Pierrot. Petrushka is rather a Russian Punch or Pulcinella in character.

History[link]

It was the Empress Anna Ioannovna’s court jester Pietro-Mira Pedrillo from Italy, who served as a prototype for Petrushka.

Petrushka’s voice was created with the help of a special whistle, and the dialogue was based on a momentary change of the pishchik and the “live” voice of other characters. There were a number of basic plots: the medical treatment of Petrushka, his learning of soldier’s service, the scene with his bride, the buying of a horse and testing it.

Initially, Petrushka was a character of typical slapstick comedy targeting the adult audience. As puppet theatre gradually became predominantly children's entertainment, Petrushka became less vulgar and aggressive. In the Soviet Union, Petrushka appeared widely in agitprop theater, defending poor peasants and attacking kulaks.^[1]

Russian Children's Welfare Society (RCWS) hosts annual "Petroushka Ball", which is named after Petrushka character who fell in love with a graceful ballerina.^[2]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Petrushka (Russian)
• Petrushka and Vertep: On Traditions of Russian Puppet Theatre (English)

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Yuja Wang (王羽佳)
Yuja Wang at Stadtcasino, Basel, on 19th March 2012.
Born	(1987-02-10) February 10, 1987 (age 25) Beijing, China
Nationality	Chinese
Alma mater	Central Conservatory of Music, Beijing Curtis Institute of Music, Philadelphia, 2008
Occupation	Pianist

Yuja Wang (Chinese: 王羽佳; pinyin: Wáng Yǔjiā;^[1] born February 10, 1987^[2]) is a Chinese classical pianist. She was born in Beijing, began studying piano there at age six, and went on to study at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing.^[3]

Early life[link]

Wang comes from a musical family. She entered Beijing's Central Conservatory of Music at age seven and studied there for three years. At age 11, Wang was accepted as the youngest student in the Morningside Music Bridge International Music Festival at Mount Royal University in Calgary, Canada. ^[4]. After several summers of participating in the program, Wang moved to Canada at age 14 to continue her studies at the Mount Royal University Conservatory.^[5]

Career[link]

In 1998, Wang won 3rd Prize in the Ettlingen International Competition for Young Pianists, in Ettlingen, Germany. In 2001, she won Third Prize and Special Jury Prize (awarded to an especially superior finalist of less than 20 years in age, prize money of 500,000 Japanese Yen) in the Piano Section at the First Sendai International Music Competition in Sendai, Japan.^[6]

In 2003 Wang made her European debut with the Tonhalle Orchestra in Zurich, Switzerland, playing Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4 under the baton of David Zinman. She made her North American debut in Ottawa in the 2005–06 season replacing Radu Lupu performing the Beethoven concerto with Pinchas Zukerman conducting.

On September 11, 2005, Wang was named a 2006 biennial Gilmore Young Artist award winner, given to the most promising pianists age 21 and younger. As part of the award, she received $15,000, appeared at Gilmore Festival concerts, and had a new piano work commissioned for her.^[7]

Starting at age 15, she studied for five years with Gary Graffman, who was also Lang Lang's teacher, at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and graduated in May 2008. She is increasing the number of concerts she is playing, and has "developed a novel reputation" of replacing sick pianists, yet going on "to deliver a knockout performance."^[3][8]

In 2006–2007, she performed with the New York Philharmonic, the Houston Symphony, the Chicago Symphony, and San Francisco Symphony, the NHK Symphony Orchestra in Japan, the St. Petersburg Philharmonic in the Netherlands, the China Philharmonic in Beijing and the Guangzhou Symphony and the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival.

In March 2007, Wang replaced the legendary pianist Martha Argerich in concerts held in Boston.^[8] Argerich had cancelled her appearances with the Boston Symphony Orchestra on four subscription concerts from March 8 to March 13.^[8] Wang performed Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1, with Charles Dutoit conducting, receiving highly favorable reviews.^[3]

On March 14, 2007, Wang was featured on National Public Radio's All Things Considered program.^[9]

Wang played twice in Albuquerque in summer 2007,^[10] and three concerts in Kansas City with its Symphony in November 2007.^[11]

On January 21, 2008, She played at Hill Auditorium in Ann Arbor, Michigan and, to standing ovations, returned to the stage repeatedly for a triple encore that included Gluck's Mélodie from Orfeo (Wang's transcription, after Giovanni Sgambati), Turkish March by Mozart (Volodos's transcription), and Rimsky-Korsakov's Flight of the Bumblebee (Cziffra's virtuosic arrangement).

On April 2, 2008, Wang played with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields in Boston Symphony Hall, on a concert originally scheduled to be conducted from the keyboard by Murray Perahia and she performed in the 2008 Verbier Festival to great acclaim.

2008 residency at SPAC[link]

In the summer of 2008, Wang played two performances at Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC), for which she was introduced by SPAC President Marcia White.^[12][13] Wang was called a "new pianist star", "a phenom", "a whiz", and "a sensation" after her concerto concerts at SPAC in August 2008.^{[3][14][15][16]}

In her first concert, with the Saratoga Chamber Orchestra, Wang "performed Liszt’s prodigiously difficult" Sonata in B minor.^[15][16] A reviewer said that:

It’s a very long work that goes for almost 50 minutes [actually 30 minutes] of constant playing. Like much of Liszt’s music, this one ebbed and flowed from great dramatic moments to quiet ephemeral sections filled with a romantically ethereal melody. It took a page or so of music before Wang was completely involved emotionally, but once she was—wozzah. She has technique to burn. Her octave runs at lightning speed were incredible. The volume and big sound she got out of the piano, which in the big chordal passages sounded like giant footsteps, contrasted sharply with the lacy streams of notes. Her delicate stroking of the melody was like angels singing. Now and then, she’d lift off the piano stool in her intensity. Yet with all her passion, Wang was always in control. Her concentration was focused. She was unhesitating in pacing herself in accordance with the work’s demands. Her vision was a dramatic one. It was great stuff and the crowd loved it. Wang got a standing ovation and several curtain calls.

—Geraldine Freedman, in The Daily Gazette^[15]

Another reviewer wrote that:

Some say this music shows the different facets of the composer's personality, and Wang exposed the most gentle, languorous aspects of the piece every bit as perfectly as the hard-edged, pounding furor. Just 21, hair blunt-cut to hide her face in profile at the piano, Wang is a quiet, unaffected presence as she plays, utterly without body language except when the force of her arms on the keys lifts her slight frame from the bench. This young pianist is a technical whiz who makes every note speak for itself.

—Judith White, in The Saratogian^[16]

She also played Brahms' Horn Trio with the Philadelphia Orchestra concertmaster, David Kim, and Philadelphia's principal horn, Jennifer Montone, in which "Wang showed herself entirely capable of playing in ensemble."^[16]

For her second concert, she performed Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 1 at SPAC to spectacular reviews, in which it was noted that she "is probably not much older than Prokofiev when he wrote the work."^[14] One reviewer wrote:

Wang used punchy, dry articulated fingerwork and strongly accented the pulses, which only added to the flavor. In the inner slow movement with its plaintive melody, Wang stroked the keys tenderly and gave the lovely melody good lift. The orchestra under Charles Dutoit was solidly enthusiastic. The crowd went wild with whistles and cheers and gave her a standing ovation and several curtain calls. Wang was a real-life star....

—Geraldine Freedman, in The Daily Gazette^[14]

Recording contract[link]

In January 2009, Wang signed an exclusive recording contract for five discs with Deutsche Grammophon.^[17] In March, she made her debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, National Symphony Orchestra, Dallas Symphony Orchestra and Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. On April 15, 2009 Wang performed at the Youtube Symphony Orchestra event held in New York at Carnegie Hall. In May, she performed Sergei Prokofiev's Piano Concerto number 2 with the San Francisco Symphony.^[18] In August, she played his third Piano Concerto under Claudio Abbado in the Opening Concert of the Lucerne Festival, with live broadcast and telecast in the Swiss first national programm SF 1.^[19] In June/July, she appeared, like the year before, at the Verbier Festival, and in November, she had her first solo concert in Zurich at the prestiguous Tonhalle Zurich (her second visit after her famous European debut here in 2003, see above), with a program featuring Liszt, Schumann, and Chopin.^[20]

Personal life[link]

Wang currently lives in New York City, but travels most of the time playing concerts around the world.

Discography[link]

Wang has released four CDs with Deutsche Grammophon: Sonatas & Etudes in 2009; Transformation in 2010; Rachmaninov in 2011;^[21] and Fantasia in March 2012.^[22]

In addition, EuroArts has released a DVD on which she performs Sergei Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Major, with Abbado conducting.^[23]

Although there are reports that Wang released a debut CD in 1995,^[24][25][26] there is little information available about it.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Yuja Wang at Allmusic
• Profile of Yuja Wang on Opus3 Artists site

Tito Arturo Muñoz (born July 14, 1983) is an American conductor and is currently Music Director of the Opéra national de Lorraine and Orchestre symphonique et lyrique de Nancy. He was previously Assistant Conductor of The Cleveland Orchestra and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.

Biography[link]

Born in Flushing, Queens, Muñoz first studied music in the New York City Public School System, where he took up violin at the Louis Armstrong Middle School. He attended the Music Advancement Program at the Juilliard School as a violin student of Hisako Resnick and later began composition studies with Amanda Harberg.

Muñoz attended the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts where he had his first public performance as a conductor, leading Leonard Bernstein's West Side Story.^[1] He performed in many ensembles during his high school years, including the InterSchool Orchestras of New York and the New York Youth Symphony. He also attended the Manhattan School of Music Pre-College Division where he studied violin with Jonathan Strasser and composition with Alexander Yagupsky, and received the Richard Kimball Composition Award. During those summers, Muñoz attended the Kinhaven Music School and Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music.^[2]

In 1999, Muñoz attended the French Woods Festival of the Performing Arts and was given the opportunity to conduct several ensembles, as well as a fully staged Broadway musical production. He later returned to the Festival in 2001 and 2003 as faculty, where he taught violin and served as staff conductor.

Muñoz began undergraduate studies at the Aaron Copland School of Music, Queens College, as a violin student of Orion String Quartet member Daniel Phillips. As a conductor, he organized many student performances, conducted the school's orchestras on several occasions, and collaborated with faculty in concerto performances.^[3]

In the summers of 2004-2006, Muñoz attended the Aspen Music Festival and School as a student in the American Academy of Conducting at Aspen where he studied with David Zinman and Murry Sidlin. He also participated in master classes with many notable conductors including Asher Fisch, George Manahan, David Robertson, Leonard Slatkin and Robert Spano. He won the Festival's 2005 Robert J. Harth Conductor Prize and the 2006 Aspen Conducting Prize and was invited by Zinman to debut with The Cleveland Orchestra at the Blossom Music Center in 2006.^[4][5] He was appointed Assistant Conductor of the festival for the summer of 2007.^[6]

After working with Leonard Slatkin, Muñoz was accepted into Slatkin's National Conducting Institute in 2006 and subsequently made his National Symphony Orchestra debut conducting Aaron Copland's Billy the Kid at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.^[7]

In May 2006, at the age of 22, Muñoz was appointed Assistant Conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra by Paavo Järvi.^[8] He made his debut with the orchestra in February 2007 conducting a family concert.^[9][10] That same month, he replaced an ill Krzysztof Penderecki to make his critically acclaimed subscription debut, with violinist Chee-Yun as soloist.^[11][12][13] He made his Cincinnati Pops debut in March 2007, performing with the Celtic Tenors.^[14]

In April 2007, Muñoz was appointed Assistant Conductor of The Cleveland Orchestra by Franz Welser-Möst.^[15] He made his European debut with the Orchestre Lyrique de Région Avignon-Provence in December 2007.

Muñoz made his operatic debut in January 2009 with the Opéra national de Lorraine in a production of Manuel Caballero's Los Sobrinos del Capitan Grant. He also made his debut with the Opera's orchestra, l'Orchestre symphonique et lyrique de Nancy, that same month. In December 2010, Muñoz was appointed Music Director of both institutions.^[16]

Muñoz is managed exclusively by Opus 3 Artists.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Tito Muñoz official website
• Tito Muñoz artist page at Opus 3 Artists
• Tito Muñoz biography at The Cleveland Orchestra
• Opéra national de Lorraine website

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Evgeny Kissin (2011)

Evgeny Igorevitch Kissin (Russian: Евге́ний И́горевич Ки́син Yevgeniy Igorevich Kisin; born 10 October 1971) is a Russian classical pianist. He first came to international fame as a child prodigy. He has been a British citizen since 2002.^[1] He is especially known for his interpretations of the works of the Romantic repertoire, particularly Frédéric Chopin, Rachmaninoff and Franz Liszt.

Life[link]

Early Life and Career[link]

Kissin was born in Moscow to a Russian Jewish family. Recognized as a child prodigy, at age six, he began piano studies at the esteemed Gnessin School of Music for Gifted Children. At the school, he became a student of Anna Kantor, who remained Kissin's only piano teacher.^[2]

At the age of ten, Kissin made his debut performing Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor with the Ulyanovsk Symphony Orchestra. The year after that he gave his first recital in Moscow. Kissin's talents were revealed on the international scene in 1984, at the age of twelve, when he played and recorded both of Chopin's piano concertos with the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatoire. Kissin’s first appearances outside Russia were in 1985 in Eastern Europe, followed a year later by his first tour of Japan. In 1987 he made his West European debut at the Berlin Festival as well as his United Kingdom debut, alongside conductor Valery Gergiev and violinists Maxim Vengerov and Vadim Repin, at The Lichfield Festival. In 1988 he toured Europe with the Moscow Virtuosi and Vladimir Spivakov and also made his London debut with the London Symphony Orchestra under Valery Gergiev. In December of the same year he played Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 with Herbert von Karajan at the Berlin Philharmonic's New Year's Eve Concert which was broadcast internationally, with the performance repeated the following year at the Salzburg Easter Festival. In September 1990, Kissin made his debut in North America playing Chopin's two piano concertos with the New York Philharmonic under Zubin Mehta and the first piano recital in Carnegie Hall's centennial season. In 1997, he gave the first solo piano recital in the history of The Proms in London.^[3]

Achievements and Recent Engagements[link]

Kissin makes regular recital tours of Europe, America and Asia. He has performed with nearly all the leading orchestras of the world, under such conductors as Claudio Abbado, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Daniel Barenboim, Sir Colin Davis, Valery Gergiev, Carlo Maria Giulini, Mariss Jansons, Herbert von Karajan, James Levine, Sir Andrew Davis, Lorin Maazel, Riccardo Muti, Seiji Ozawa, Sir Georg Solti, Yevgeny Svetlanov and Yuri Temirkanov. Kissin has also performed chamber music with Martha Argerich, Gidon Kremer, James Levine, Mischa Maisky, Thomas Quasthoff, Isaac Stern and others, who admire Kissin's virtuosity.

Many musical awards and tributes from around the world have been showered upon Kissin. In 1987 he received the Crystal Prize of the Osaka Symphony Hall for the best performance of the year 1986 (his first performance in Japan). In 1991 he received the Musician of the Year Prize from the Chigiana Academy of Music in Siena, Italy. He was special guest at the 1992 Grammy Awards Ceremony, broadcast live to an audience estimated at over one billion, and became Musical America’s youngest Instrumentalist of the Year in 1995. In 1997 he received the prestigious Triumph Award for his outstanding contribution to Russia’s culture, one of the highest cultural honors to be awarded in the Russian Republic, and again, the youngest-ever awardee. He was the first pianist to be invited to give a recital at the BBC Proms (1997), and, in the 2000 season, was the first concerto soloist ever to be invited to play in the Proms opening concert. In May 2001 Kissin was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Music by the Manhattan School of Music. In December 2003 in Moscow, he received the Shostakovich Award, one of Russia’s highest musical honors. In June 2005 he was awarded an Honorary Membership of the Royal Academy of Music in London. In March 2009 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Letters from the Hong Kong University.

In addition to classical music, Kissin has given recitals of Yiddish and Russian poetry. A CD compilation of Kissin's recitals from the contemporary Yiddish poetry was issued by the Forward Association in 2010.^[4] In 2007 he became Honorary Patron of a professional chamber opera company, City Opera of Vancouver, led by conductor Charles Barber.^[5][6]

Recordings[link]

Kissin’s piano recordings have also received numerous awards and accolades, including the Edison Klassiek in The Netherlands and the Diapason d’Or and the Grand Prix of La Nouvelle Academie du Disque in France, as well as awards from music magazines throughout the world. His recording of works by Scriabin, Medtner and Stravinsky (RCA Red Seal) won him a Grammy in 2006 for Best Instrumental Soloist and, in 2002, he was named Echo Klassik Soloist of the Year. In 2010 he was awarded the Grammy for Best Instrumental Soloist Performance (With Orchestra) for his recording of Prokofiev’s Piano Concertos Nos. 2 and 3 with the Philharmonia Orchestra, conducted by Vladimir Ashkenazy (EMI Classics).

His first studio recording, in 1988 for RCA Red Seal, was of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with Gergiev/London Symphony Orchestra, and six Etudes-Tableaux, Op. 39. Other works recorded for RCA Red Seal are two Chopin recital programs, one with the four Ballades, Barcarolle, Berceuse, and Scherzo No. 4, Op. 54, and another with the 24 Preludes Op. 28, Sonata No. 2 and Polonaise in A- flat; Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata, Brahms’ Variations on a Theme of Paganini, and Francks’s Prelude, Choral and Fugue; Schumann’s Fantasy, Op. 17 and five Etudes d’execution transcendante by Liszt; Schumann’s Kreisleriana and the Bach-Busoni Chaconne; Bach-Busoni Toccata, Adagio and Fugue in C major, Glinka-Balakirev The Lark and Mussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition; Schumann’s Sonata No. 1 in F sharp minor and Carnaval; and an all-Brahms disc including Sonata No. 3 in F Minor and five Hungarian dances. A duo recital with James Levine of works by Schubert was recorded live at Carnegie Hall in 2005 and released in 2006.

Other recital albums include Schubert Sonata No. 21 in B flat major and Schubert-Liszt Four Songs (BMG/RCA Victor Red Seal), Schubert Wanderer Fantasie, Brahms Seven Pieces, Op. 116, Liszt Hungarian Rhapsody No. 12 (Deutsche Grammophon) and Haydn Sonata No. 30 in A major, Sonata No. 52 in E flat major, and Schubert Sonata in A minor D784 (Sony).

Among his concerto recordings are the complete Beethoven Piano Concertos with Sir Colin Davis and the London Symphony Orchestra (EMI); Mozart Piano Concerto No 24 and Schumann Piano Concerto with Sir Colin Davis and the London Symphony Orchestra (EMI); Schumann Concerto with the Vienna Philharmonic and Giulini (Sony Classical); Beethoven Piano Concertos Nos. 2 and 5 with the Philharmonia Orchestra and Levine (Sony Classical); Prokofiev Concertos Nos. 1 and 3 with the Berlin Philharmonic and Abbado (Deutsche Grammophon) and Rachmaninoff Concerto No. 3 with the Boston Symphony and Ozawa (RCA Red Seal); Mozart Concertos Nos. 12 and 20 and Rondo in D major KV. 382, Haydn Concerto in D major, Shostakovich Concerto No. 1 with the Moscow Virtuosi and Spivakov (RCA Red Seal); Beethoven Choral Fantasy with the Berlin Philharmonic and Abbado (Deutsche Grammophon); Prokofiev Concertos Nos. 2 and 3 with the Philharmonia Orchestra and Ashkenazy (EMI Classics). A recent recording with Kremerata Baltica of Mozart Concertos Nos. 20 and 27 will be a forthcoming release on EMI.

Christopher Nupen’s documentary film, Evgeny Kissin: The Gift of Music, was released in 2000 on video and DVD by RCA Red Seal.

The 2010-2011 music season sees engagements in major cities across Europe. He will then embark on a North American tour, featuring solo recitals, chamber recitals with Yuri Bashmet, and performances with the Boston Symphony, Chicago Symphony, and the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.

Awards and Recognitions[link]

• Musical America, Instrumentalist of the Year, 1994
• Triumph Award, Outstanding Contribution to Russia's Culture (Youngest Awardee), 1997
• Honorary Doctorate of Music by the Manhattan School of Music, New York 2001
• Honorary Membership of the Royal Academy of Music 2005^[7]
• Herbert von Karajan Award, Baden-Baden, Germany (2005)
• Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist Performance (without orchestra), 2006
• Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli Award, Brescia, Italy 2007
• Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist(s) Performance (with orchestra), 2009
• Honorary Doctoral Degree by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem 2010

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Evgeny Kissin

• Full Biography
• (English) Productions Internationales Albert Sarfati (France Management) : Evgeny Kissin
• Evgeny Kissin's Fan Club Homepage
• "Sony BMG Evgeny Kissin Page". Sony BMG. http://www.kissinmusic.com/. Retrieved 2006-08-12. 
• "Evgeny Kissin at IMG". IMG Artists. http://www.imgartists.com/?page=artist&id=187. Retrieved 2006-05-28. 
• "Evgeny Kissin". BMG Classics. http://www.bmgclassics.com/artists/artist.jsp?id=105438&artist=Evgeny%20Kissin. Retrieved 2006-05-28. 
• "Evgeny Kissin". RCA Victor. Archived from the original on 2006-05-09. http://web.archive.org/web/20060509120614/http://www.rcavictor.com/artists/artist.jsp?id=105438. Retrieved 2006-05-28. 
• "Evgeny Kissin". EMI Classics. http://www.emiclassics.co.uk/search_new.php?q=evgeny%20kissin. Retrieved 2008-06-05. 
• "Evgeny Kissin". Sony Classical. http://sonyclassical.com/artists/kissin/. Retrieved 2006-05-28. 
• Evgeny Kissin - on Allmusic
• DVD Times link on documentary We Want the Light

Vadim Repin, 2008

Vadim Repin (Vadim Viktorovich Repin, Вадим Викторович Репин [vɐˈdim ˈviktɐrvitʃ ˈrepin],^[1] born in Novosibirsk, Western Siberia, 31 August 1971) is a Belgian (naturalized) Russian violinist who currently lives in Austria.

Yehudi Menuhin once said that "Vadim Repin is simply the best and most perfect violinist that I have ever had the chance to hear."^[2]

Education[link]

Vadim Repin began to play the violin at the age of 5. He went on to study with Zakhar Bron, the famous violin teacher. At only eleven, he won the gold medal in all age categories in the Wienawski Competition and gave his recital débuts in Moscow and St Petersburg. In 1985 at fourteen he made his débuts in Tokyo, München, Berlin, Helsinki; a year later in Carnegie Hall.

Professional career[link]

At the age of 17, he became the youngest winner of the Queen Elisabeth Music Competition in Brussels, the world's premier violin competition. He was a member of the jury in the 2009 violin-session of this competition.^[3]

Vadim Repin has played under such leading conductors as Simon Rattle, Valery Gergiev, Mariss Jansons, and Yehudi Menuhin. He has also played with Pierre Boulez, Riccardo Chailly, Charles Dutoit, Michael Tilson Thomas (with whom he made his United Kingdom debut at The Lichfield Festival in 1985), James Levine, Kurt Masur, Edo de Waart, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Mstislav Rostropovich, and Riccardo Muti.

Repin has performed with the Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra and London Symphony Orchestra. He regularly collaborates with Nikolai Lugansky and Itamar Golan in recital; other chamber music partners include Martha Argerich, Evgeny Kissin, Lang Lang and Mischa Maisky.

Vadim Repin has been a frequent guest at festivals such as the BBC Proms,^[4] Tanglewood, Gstaad and Verbier. In 2010 he played the premiere of James MacMillan Violin Concerto with the London Symphony Orchestra under Gergiev which was dedicated to him.^[5]

Repertoire and recordings[link]

Repin specializes in Russian music and French music, particularly the great Russian violin concertos, as well as 20th century and contemporary music. New music in his répertoire includes works by John Adams and Sofia Gubaidulina.

He has recorded violin concertos by Beethoven, Brahms, Mozart, Sibelius, Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev, Shostakovich and Nikolai Myaskovsky. Repin has also made two CDs of violin and piano music works with Boris Berezovsky (pianist) and has recorded chamber music with pianists Martha Argerich and Mikhail Pletnev, violist Yuri Bashmet, and cellist Mischa Maisky. In 2010, Repin recorded an album of violin sonatas with pianist Nikolai Lugansky.

The majority of Repin's recordings through 2005 were on the Erato label. However, in 2005 Repin appeared on Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on a disc of chamber music by Sergei Taneyev alongside Mikhail Pletnev, Ilya Gringolts, Nobuko Imai, and Lynn Harrell; and in April 2006 Repin signed an exclusive recording contract with DG.

Instruments[link]

• 1984–1989 Stradivari 1720 ex-Wieniawski-Wieniawski, as a loan by the UdSSR State Library
• 1996 Repin played shortly the Guarnerius del Gesù 1737 Isaac Stern ex-Panette-Panette, a loan by David Fulton
• 1996–2005 Stradivari Ruby 1708,^[6] as a loan by the Stradivari Society in Chicago and previously played by Pablo de Sarasate
• 2005 Guarneri del Gesù 1742 Il Cannone ex Paganini as a loan by the Municipal Administration of Genua for the use in a concert in the city
• 2002-2009 Guarneri del Gesù Von Szerdahely 1736
• Since 2010 Vadim Repin plays a Guarneri del Gesù 1743 Bonjour

His preferred bows are by Nicolaus Kittel and Nicolas Maline.

Private life[link]

Vadim Repin married his first wife Caroline Diemunsch in 2001. His son Leonardo was born in 2006.^[7]

His current wife is Svetlana Zakharova, the principal dancer of the Bolshoi Ballet. They have a daughter.

External links[link]

• Official Website
• Vadim Repin Homepage, unofficial, but very comprehensive
• Discography
• Vadim Repin Biography (until 2004)
• Biography of Vadim Repin (English), Productions Internationales Albert Sarfati

Interviews[link]

• All Things Strings, Vadim Repin Cover Story, excerpts from Strings Magazine, April 2000
• Interview on Evene.fr (in French), November 2008

Reviews[link]

Vadim Repin (violin) and Nikolai Lugansky (piano):

• Crescendo, review about their recital on 20 November 2002 in Brussels
• Light-filled brilliance, review in English from Wienerzeitung, 27 November 2002

Vadim Repin (violin), Nikolai Lugansky (piano), Mischa Maisky (cello):

• La Palme d'or pour les trois Russes, Critique du récital de Vadim Repin, Nikolaï Lugansky et Misha Maïsky au Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Paris, 25 May 2005

References[link]

1. ^ Vadim Repin pronounced in Russian
2. ^ Russian Hommage with Vadim Repin on menuhinfestivalgstaad.com, Menuhin said it on the occasion of a concert given by Repin
3. ^ "Entry for Vadim Repin on the official site of the Queen Elisabeth competition". Queen Elisabeth International Music Competition. http://www.cmireb.be/en/i/664-Vadim_REPIN.html. Retrieved 11 November 2010. 
4. ^ Vadim Repin - A Biographical Timeline
5. ^ James MacMillan: Violin Concerto premiere with Vadim Repin on Boosey & Hawkes
6. ^ Interview de Vadim Repin à l'Actualité Musique d'Evene en Novembre 2008
7. ^ Profile of Vadim Repin at the Moscow State Philharmonic Society