Violin masterclasses - Vladimir Spivakov

While still very young, Vladimir Spivakov was awarded high prizes at several important international contests, such as the Marguerite Long – Jacques Thibaud Competition in Paris (1965), the Paganini Competition in Genoa (1967), the Montreal International Competition (1969) and the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow (1970).

In 1975 following his triumphal recitals in the U.S.A., Vladimir Spivakov started his brilliant international career. He performed as soloist with the most important symphonic orchestras in the world, including philharmonic orchestras of Moscow, Leningrad, Berlin, Vienna, London and New-York, symphonic orchestras of Paris, Chicago, Philadelphia, Pittsburg and Cleveland under the baton of the most eminent conductors of the 20th century, such as E. Mravinsky, E. Svetlanov, K. Kondrashin, Y. Temirkanov, M. Rostropovich, L. Bernstein, S. Ozawa, L. Maazel, C.M. Giulini, R. Muti and C. Abbado. Critics of the leading musical countries unanimously appreciate Spivakov’s deep insight into composers’ intentions, the richness, beauty and volume of his tone, his fine phrasing and love for nuance, the emotional impact onto the audience, his refined artistry and intelligence.

Until 1997 Vladimir Spivakov had played a violin of Francesco Gobetti, a present from Professor Yankelevich. Since 1997 he plays a Stradivari which was given to him for life ownership by his admirers.

In 1979 Vladimir Spivakov together with some of his colleagues who shared his love of chamber music formed a new chamber orchestra named «Moscow Virtuosi» and has been its artistic director, conductor and soloist ever since. He studied conducting with Professor Izrail Gusman in Russia as well as with great Leonard Bernstein and Lorin Maazel in the U.S.A. Leonard Bernstein presented him with his own conducting stick as the sign of his sympathy and belief into his conducting future. Vladimir Spivakov never parts with the precious gift.

As chamber and symphony orchestra conductor, Vladimir Spivakov has appeared in the world’s most important concert venues and conducted European and American orchestras, such as symphony orchestras of London, Chicago, Philadelphia, Cleveland and Budapest, La Scala Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Academia «Santa Cecilia», the Cologne Philharmonic Orchestra, the French Radio Orchestra and best Russian orchestras.

V. Spivakov has recorded extensively both as soloist and conductor, and his over 40 compact discs reflect different music styles and époques from European baroque music to the works of the 20th century’s composers: Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Penderecki, Schnittke, Pärt, Kancheli, Shchedrin and Gubaydulina, mostly recorded with the BMG Classics.

V. Spivakov was the founder of the International Colmar Music Festival (France) in 1989, and has been its Artistic Director ever since. Many prominent musical groups and ensembles have appeared at the Festival during the years of its existence, a considerable part of them being the best Russian orchestras and choruses as well as great world-known artists such as Mstislav Rostropovich, Yehudi Menuhin, Evgeny Svetlanov, Krzysztof Penderecki, Jose van Dam, Jessye Norman, Robert Hall, Thomas Quasthoff, Kristian Zimmermann, Michel Plasson, Evgeny Kissin, Vadim Repin, Nikolay Lugansky, Vladimir Kraynev, Sergey Leiferkus.

Since 1989 V. Spivakov has taken part as a jury member in many well-known international competitions (in Paris, Genoa, London, Montreal etc.); he is President of the Sarasate Violin Contest in Spain. In 2002 he presided over the Jury of the Tchaikovsky International Violin Competition in Moscow. V. Spivakov followed Nathan Milstein in leading the very prestigious annual violin master classes in Zurich in 1994.

For many years V. Spivakov has been involved in humanitarian and charity activities.

Together with the «Moscow Virtuosi» Chamber Orchestra he performed in Armenia soon after the horrible earthquake of 1988 and in Ukraine 3 days after the Chernobyl disaster, gave hundreds of charity concerts throughout the territory of the former Soviet Union.

In 1994 V. Spivakov founded the Vladimir Spivakov International Charity Foundation aimed at humanitarian, artistic and educational targets, such as improving life standards for orphans and disabled children, as well as creating conditions for creative development of young talents, i.e. providing musical instruments, allocating scholarships and grants, attracting the most talented musicians, children and teenagers, to “Moscow Virtuosi” performances and at the Colmar Music Festival, organizing international art exhibitions for young artists, etc. Through the years of its existence the Foundation has furnished tangible assistance to hundreds of children and young talents.

In 1999-2002 V. Spivakov was Principal Conductor of the Russian National Orchestra, whereas since 2003 he is Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the National Philharmonic of Russia and President of the Moscow Performing Arts Centre.

V. Spivakov was awarded the honorary title of the People’s Artist of the USSR (1989), the State Prize of the USSR (1989), the Order of Peoples’ Friendship (1993), and the Order for Services To Fatherland, Grade III (1999) and II (2009), the Order for Merits of Grade III (Ukraine), the St. Mesrop Mashtots Order (Armenia), l’Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et Letters (France), le Chevalier et l’Officier de l’Ordre de la Legion d’Honneur (France, 2000 and 2010), Commander of the Order of the Star of Italy (2012), international prize “Person of the Year 2012”, and others. The Russian Space Center gave the name of Spivakov to one of small planets on the occasion of his 50th birthday. In 2002 he was elected an Honorary Doctor of the Moscow State Lomonosov University, while in May 2005, together Alexander Solzhenitsyn and Leonid Roshal, he was chosen the Russian of the Year in the «Russia Without Borders» nomination.

In 2006 Vladimir Spivakov was designated UNESCO Artist for Peace for his great contribution into the world of art and his activities aimed at peace and dialogue between cultures. In 2009 he received UNESCO’s Mozart gold medal. V. Spivakov is Ambassador of the Arts for the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

In 2012 V. Spivakov was awarded the State Prize of the Russian Federation for outstanding achievement in the field of humanitarian work (in the previous years the laureates of the Prize were Patriarch Alexius II of Russian Orthodox Church, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Valentina Tereshkova, Juan Carlos I of Spain, and Jacques Chirac).

Chambriste réputée au vaste répertoire, elle se produit depuis 2005 au sein de différentes formations dans le cadre du Festival de Colmar. Elle est consultante permanente de la Fondation caritative internationale Vladimir Spivakov.

Born in Granada in 2002, María Dueñas fell in love with classical music via the recordings her parents played constantly at home and the concerts she attended in her native city. She started playing the violin at six and enrolled at her hometown's conservatory of music a year later. In 2014 she won a scholarship abroad sponsored by Juventudes Musicales de Madrid as well as the Humboldt Foundation's Wardwell Stipend and at first moved to Dresden to study at the Carl Maria von Weber Academy of Music. There she was soon discovered by conductor Marek Janowski, at whose invitation she later made her debut with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. Since 2016 she has been studying with the renowned violin pedagogue Boris Kuschnir at the Music and Arts University of the City of Vienna. 

The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung has hailed the “freedom and joyous individuality” of her playing, while The Strad described her rising-star status as “seemingly unstoppable”, after she won a whole series of international violin competitions. Not least among these was her livestreamed run to victory at the 2021 Menuhin Violin Competition, at which she won not only the first prize and audience prize, but also a global online following. Her competition victories began with the 2017 Zhuhai International Mozart Competition and 2018 Vladimir Spivakov International Violin Competition. In addition to her success at the Menuhin Competition, 2021 saw her win first prize at the Getting to Carnegie Competition, the Grand Prize at the Viktor Tretyakov International Violin Competition, and the career advancement prize at the Rheingau Music Festival. She was also named as a BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist 2021-23. In April 2023, she was awarded the prestigious Premio Princesa de Girona de las Artes y las Letras in her native Spain. 

In 2022, María Dueñas signed an exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon. Her spectacular debut album, entitled Beethoven and Beyond, recorded live at the Vienna Musikverein with the Wiener Symphoniker and Manfred Honeck, was released in May 2023. It features Beethoven's violin concerto, for which she has composed her own cadenzas. It also includes five showpieces for violin and orchestra by Kreisler, Saint-Saëns, Spohr, Wieniawski and Ysaÿe and the cadenzas written by the same composers for the first movement of the Beethoven concerto. She is a winner of the German recording industry award Opus Klassik 2024 in the category "Young Talent of the Year". 

The multi-faceted artist became fond of composing after she started writing cadenzas for Mozart ́s violin concertos. A solo piano piece, Farewell, was awarded a prize in the 2016 “Von fremden Ländern und Menschen” Competition for Young Composers. Recorded by Evgeny Sinaiski, it was also made into a music video. Her composition Homage 1770 for solo violin was also released by Deutsche Grammophon. 

A dedicated chamber musician, María Dueñas has performed with baritone Matthias Goerne and pianist Itamar Golan, among other artists. She has also premiered several works written for and dedicated to her by the late Catalan composer Jordi Cervelló. 

She has meanwhile performed with many of the world's leading orchestras, including the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Oslo Philharmonic, Dresden Philharmonic, Staatskapelle Berlin, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester, Bamberg Symphony, Munich Philharmonic, Orchestre philharmonique de Radio France and Accademia di Santa Cecilia Rome under conductors such as Manfred Honeck, Herbert Blomstedt, Marek Janowski, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Gustavo Gimeno, Michael Sanderling, Daniel Harding, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Alain Altinoglu and Alan Gilbert. At the Évian Festival 2023, she played together with Renaud Capuçon. María Dueñas maintains a close relationship with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Gustavo Dudamel. After her 2021 debut at the Hollywood Bowl, they joined forces again the following year for the world premiere of Gabriela Ortiz’s violin concerto Altar de cuerda, of which she is the dedicatee, causing an international sensation, followed by performances at Carnegie Hall, in Boston and at the Cervantino Festival in Mexico. In 2024, they perfomed the work again in Los Angeles and on tour in Barcelona, Paris, and London and released a recording of the piece on the Platoon label. 

Highlights of the 2024/2025 season include her return to the Philadelphia Orchestra with Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Staatskapelle Berlin with Paavo Järvi, her debuts with the Staatskapelle Dresden under Andrés Orozco-Estrada, the Philharmonia Orchestra with both Santtu-Matias Rouvali and Marin Alsop, and the Cleveland Orchestra under Stéphane Denève, recitals with the pianist Alexander Malofeev, including concerts at Carnegie Hall and the Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin, a friendly reunion with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and Manfred Honeck, as well as engagements with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra and Marek Janowski, and the RAI National Symphony Orchestra Turin, again with Andrés Orozco-Estrada. 

María Dueñas plays a Nicolò Gagliano violin of 17?4, on loan from the German Musical Instrument Fund administered by Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben, and the Stradivari Camposelice of 1710, on generous loan from the Nippon Music Foundation. 

Marley has performed with orchestras on both sides of the Atlantic including the Seattle Symphony, Orchestra of the University of Music FRANZ LISZT Weimar, Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Liszt Ferenc Chamber Orchestra, l’Accademia d' Archi Arrigoni, Mitteleuropa Orchestra, Seattle Sound Ensemble, and the Cascade Symphony Orchestra. She has concertized in such venues as Walt Disney Concert Hall, Benaroya Hall, Paul Hall, Trinity Chapel, Antico Teatro Arrigoni, Berlin Philharmonie Kammermusiksaal, Ruïnekerke Bergen, and the Great Hall of Franz Liszt Academy. 

Marley has performed in programs including The Juilliard School’s Starling-DeLay Symposium on Violin Studies, Kronberg Academy’s "Mit Musik- Miteinander,” and Festivals including Lockenhaus Music Festival, Festival Academy Budapest, Művészetek Völgye Festival, Tiberius Chamber Music Festival, Festival Kortrijk, Seattle Chamber Music Festival, and Miedzynarodowy Music Festival. She has participated in numerous programs including the Brian Lewis Young Artist Program, Cambridge International String Academy, The International Holland Music Sessions, and International Music Mastercourses. Marley has commissioned and performed several new works for violin, performed on Seattle’s KING FM “Northwest Focus Live,” and made her “New York Debut” in recital at Salon de Virtuosi.

In 2016, by invitation of John Adams, Marley performed the North American Premiere of Oscar Colomina i Bosch’s Shpigl on the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Green Umbrella Series at Walt Disney Concert Hall to critical acclaim: “…Shpigl will be remembered for the remarkable 13-year-old 'old soul’ performer, Marley Erickson, who made it come alive...Watch out world, here she comes.” (San Francisco Classical Voice, Oct. 4, 2016).

Marley currently studies with Kristóf Baráti and Barnabás Kelemen at the Liszt Academy of Music, Budapest. Marley’s previous teachers include Eszter Perényi, Simon James, Hiro David, and Jan Coleman. She has collaborated with such artists as Michał Francuz, Rohan De Silva, Nicola Eimer, Somi Kim, Jonian Ilias Kadesha, László Fenyö, and Veronika Kopjova, and has had the honor of masterclasses with numerous artists including Robert Lipsett, Paul Kantor, Rodney Friend, György Pauk, James Ehnes, Brian Lewis, Donald Weilerstein, Noah Bendix-Balgley, Mimi Zweig, Friedemann Eichhorn, Josef Špaček, Henning Kraggerud, and Augustin Hadelich.

For 2023 session, he performed a number of concerts in Europe, mainly in Italy, including Stradivari festival (Cremona, which was broadcasted by Cremona1 TV/Radio), Piran (Slovenia, broadcasted by RTV- Radio Television Slovenia), Palermo, Sicily in October followed by Padova and Carpi in November. In last year (2022) he played in Dubai, Malta, Seoul, Genova, Mantova, Koper (Slovenia, which was broadcasted by RTV- Radio Television Slovenia).

He won many international and national competitions. In 2019, he won 1 st prize of concerto competition at Morningside Music Bridge in Boston. He won 1st Prize of Il Piccolo Violin Magico in Italy in 2016, and won the grand prize across all categories of the 2016 Euroasia Young Violin competition in Japan.

Thomas has received guidance from internationally renowned artists, including Nemanja Radulović, Anne Gastinel, Philippe Jaroussky, Cédric Tiberghien, Claire Désert, the Wanderer Trio, the Ebène Quartet, Philippe Graffin, Olivier Charlier, Gérard Poulet, Schmuel Ashkenasi, and Christian Ivaldi. He has participated in prestigious academies such as the Seiji Ozawa International Academy in Switzerland, the Philippe Jaroussky Musical Academy, the Academy of the American Schools of Fontainebleau, and the Villecroze Academy.

Thomas is committed to expanding the horizons of the violin repertoire. He arranges and composes works for his instrument and explores contemporary repertoire alongside accomplished composers (Philippe Schoeller, Julian Anderson, Éric Montalbetti, Betsy Jolas, Thierry Escaich, Julien Beautemps, Max Vinetz, etc.).

In 2019, he won the 5th Joël Klépal Appassionato Violin Competition. In the same year, the Maurice Ravel Foundation awarded him third prize for his performance of Maurice Ravel's Sonata in G major. Thomas has already performed as a soloist and chamber musician internationally, particularly in Russia, Italy, Romania, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and Morocco. A regular guest at festivals and concert seasons such as the Centre de Musique de Chambre de Paris, Pianissimes, and the International Piano Festival of La Roque-d'Anthéron, he has shared the stage with Gautier Capuçon, Martha Argerich, Anne Gastinel, Vincent Coq, Raphaël Pidoux, Ophélie Gaillard, and many others.

He forms the Zarathoustra Trio with Théotime Gillot (piano) and Eliott Leridon (cello), and their first CD will be released at the end of 2024 under the Conservatoire de Paris INITIALE label. Thomas plays a 1722 David Tecchler violin.