Maxim Vengerov
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Maxim Vengerov | |
|---|---|
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| Background information | |
| Genre(s) | Classical |
| Occupation(s) | Pedagogue, violinist |
| Instrument(s) | Violin |
Maxim Vengerov (born August 20, 1974) is a Russian violinist.
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[edit] Biography
Born in Novosibirsk to Aleksandr and Larissa Vengerov, both his parents were musicians. His mother, a singer, was the director of a children’s orphanage, while his father was the first oboist of the Novosibirsk Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra. At age 5, he received his first violin lessons from Galina Turtschaninova. Around age 7, he went to Moscow with his grandparents and teacher to study at The Central Special Music School, a specialist school affiliated with the Tchaikovsky Conservatory.
At age 10, after his grandfather became ill, the family returned to Novosibirsk, where Maxim studied with Zakhar Bron. He won the Junior Wieniawski violin competition also at age 10.[1] At age 11, he played at the opening concert of the Eighth Tchaikovsky competition. When Bron left Russia in 1987 to teach at the Royal Academy of Music (RAM), Vengerov and his mother followed him there, and did so again after Bron moved to Lübeck to open a school there.[2]
In 1990, Vengerov and his family formally emigrated to Israel[3], where his father continued his profession as an orchestral oboist in Israel. Vengerov took Israeli citizenship and served brief duty in the Israeli Army.
[edit] Career
At age 15, Vengerov won the Carl Flesch International Violin Competition in London,[4] including First Prize, Interpretation Prize and the Audience Prize and two others.[5] He taught his first masterclass at the University of California, Los Angeles. In 1993, the Hennessey organisation in France loaned Vengerov a Stradivarius violin, the "Reynier".
Vengerov won a recording contract with Warner/Teldec, which included recordings with Mstislav Rostropovich. These included a 1994 recording of the first violin concerti each of Shostakovich and Prokofiev (with the London Symphony Orchestra), which won the Gramophone award for ‘Best Record of the Year’ and ‘Best Concerto Recordings’, two Grammy nominations and an Edison award. Further recordings included the second violin concerti by Shostakovich and Prokofiev, and the Brahms concerto with Daniel Barenboim and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
In 1995 the Stradivari society in Chicago lent Vengerov the Kiesewetter Stradivarius, which he played until April 1998. He later performed on the Kreutzer Stradivarius.
In 1997, Vengerov became an honorary ambassador for UNICEF, for which he set aside time for at least one annual project.[6], He has performed in Uganda and Sudan as part of his charity work.[7]
In 1998, Vengerov begun to study conducting with Vag Papian.[2] At the suggestion of Trevor Pinnock, Vengerov spent two years studying baroque violin.[7] They subsequently collaborated on a series of concerts. Vengerov has also studied the viola, and performed as soloist on his recording of the Walton Viola Concerto, with Rostropovich conducting, as part of his new recording contract with EMI. Other recordings for EMI include the Igor Stravinsky and Rodion Shchedrin violin concerti.
In 2004, Vengerov took a six-month sabbatical from his solo career, during which he learned jazz improvisation and the electric violin.[8][9] He also learned to dance Argentine tango, with Sebastian Misse and Andrea Reyero. This led to a collaboration with the Israeli composer Benjamin Yusupov and the tango dancer Christiane Palha, in a new composition for Vengerov, the Viola Tango Rock Concerto,[7] which Vengerov and Palha premiered in May 2005 with the NDR Philharmonie in Hannover.[8] The filmmaker Ken Howard documented Vengerov's sabbatical in what became a television program for The South Bank Show, and later an expanded film version of the program, Living the Dream. In spite of the announced sabbatical, Vengerov gave 50 recitals that year.[10]
Vengerov had planned to present the Yusupov work at the 2007 BBC Proms. However, he cancelled that and other engagements, and dealt with a recurring shoulder injury. In 2008, Vengerov announced that he was curtailing his violin career to focus on teaching and conducting.[10]
[edit] Pedagogy
Vengerov has served as Professor of Violin at Saarbrucken University (Hochschule des Saarlandes), Germany, succeeding Valerij Klimov. Through the summer of 2005, he had a regular teaching commitment, and reduced his concerts per year from approximately 130 to 55 to accommodate his teaching responsibilities.
Vengerov was appointed professor at the Royal Academy of Music in London in 2005. Other teaching activities include a summer on an Israeli kibbutz with the UBS Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra.[4] He has established a music school in Migdal, Israel.[10]
[edit] References
- ^ Matthew Gurewitsch. "A Bravura Violinist Who Loves...Schubert?", The New York Times, 12 August 2001. Retrieved on 2008-04-08.
- ^ a b Adrian Hamilton. "Maxim Vengerov: The showman", The Independent, 22 January 2005. Retrieved on 2008-04-09.
- ^ K. Robert Schwartz. "A Fiddler Unfazed by the Brightest of Spotlights", The New York Times, 14 April 1996. Retrieved on 2008-04-08.
- ^ a b Margaret Reynolds. "Keeping up with the fiddler on the hoof", The Times, 1 July 2006. Retrieved on 2008-04-08.
- ^ Geoffrey Norris. "Fiddlers on the roof of the world", Telegraph, 3 August 2006. Retrieved on 2008-04-19.
- ^ Sue Fox. "A Life in the Day of Maxim Vengerov", The Times, 15 February 2004. Retrieved on 2008-04-08.
- ^ a b c Richard Morrison. "Never less than Maxim, not for a minim", The Times, 2 March 2007. Retrieved on 2008-04-08.
- ^ a b Sue Fox. "Last tango in Siberia", The Independent, 27 September 2005. Retrieved on 2008-04-09.
- ^ Adam Sweeting. "Superhero of the classical scene", Telegraph, 19 May 2007. Retrieved on 2008-04-19.
- ^ a b c Sue Fox. "Maxim Vengerov says he is putting down the violin, his 'mother tongue'", The Times, 5 April 2008. Retrieved on 2008-04-08.
