Maxim Vengerov

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 worldwide recital tours.  Highlights of the 22/23 season will see 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, in Switzerland with Simon Trpcesky and Stephen Isserliss and with Misha Maisky in Hamburg and Germany. He will also join Aspen and Bravo Vale Festival in the States this summer in Recital, Masterclasses and Concerto performance with Fabio Luisi and the Dallas SO as well as Nick McGegan. Two years ago, 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. Further recordings will follow to coincide with Maxim Vengerov’s celebration of 40 years on stage at the Royal Albert Hall April 2023. He will be joined by Sandra Lied-Haga, an exciting young cellist, the Oxford Philharmonic with its Music Director Marios Papadopoulos and students from the Royal College of Music London. 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 democratising 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 reaches. 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 whose 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 honours from several 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) - honouring artists who have used their art to improve the state of the world. He plays the ex-Kreutzer Stradivari (1727).

Roustem Saïtkoulov is a graduate of the prestigious Russian piano school. Born in Kazan, he trained at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow with the pianist Elisso Virsaladze. A series of international prizes opened the doors of the great performing venues to him: the Salle Pleyel and the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, the Wigmore Hall in London, the Accademia Santa Cecilia in Rome, the Tonhalle in Zurich, the Konzerthaus in Berlin, the St. Petersburg Philharmonia, the Metropolitan Art Space in Tokyo, the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing, the Sydney Opera House, the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City, as well as the Bologna, La Roque d'Anthéron, Montreux and Edinburgh festivals. His recording Piano Etudes (Arensky, Chopin, Prokofiev, Scriabin, Stravinsky) for EMI Classics was a great success with European critics. In 2012, he recorded Chopin's two Piano Concertos with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London, and more recently, Shostakovich's Concerto No. 1 and Jaan Rääts' Concerto with the Orchestre des Pays de Savoie. Roustem Saïtkoulov performs with major orchestras including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London, the Monte Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Prague Symphony Orchestra, the Tonhalle Orchestra in Zurich, the RAI Orchestra in Turin, the Sinfonia Varsovia, the São Paulo Municipal Orchestra, the Beijing Symphony Orchestra and the Tokyo New City Orchestra. He has also toured Europe and Asia with the St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Yuri Temirkanov. For many years he has been performing as a duo with Maxim Vengerov in the most prestigious concert halls on all four continents, recently including Suntory Hall in Tokyo and Carnegie Hall in New York.