Guest Artist Bio
Yossif Ivanov
Acclaimed as “a player of impressive authority and presence” (The Strad) and “one of the top violinists of tomorrow” (Diapason), Yossif Ivanov, at the age of 25, has quickly established himself as one of the most exciting violinists of his generation. At the age of 16 he was awarded First Prize at the Montreal International Competition, and two years later the Second Prize, as well as the Public Prize, at the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels.
Over the past seasons Ivanov has made acclaimed debuts in all the major European halls. He has performed with orchestras such as the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestra Sinfonica della RAI, Vancouver Symphony, Residentie Orchestra The Hague, English Chamber Orchestra, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Lucerne Symphony, Sinfonia Varsovia, the Milano Verdi Orchestra, Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, Luxemburg Philharmonic, Orchestre National de Lille, Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, as well as all major Belgian orchestras.
He has collaborated with well-known conductors such as Neëme Järvi, Marin Alsop, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Vladimir Jurowski, Kazushi Ono, Jean-Claude Casadesus, Philippe Herreweghe, Jaap Van Zweden, Jesus Lopez-Cobos, Ion Marin, Yuri Simonov, Louis Langrée and John Axelrod.
In 2010 he was invited to tour North America with the London Philharmonic Orchestra (under Vladimir Jurowski) and made his Asian debut (Malaysian Philharmonic and Singapore Symphony Orchestras).
Ivanov has been invited to play recitals at a.o. the Menton & Montpellier Festivals (France), Mozarteum Salzburg, Tokyo (Kichijoji Theatre), Philharmonie Essen, Beethovenfest Bonn, the Istituzione Universitaria dei Concerti Roma, Carnegie Hall (New York), and the Ladies’ Morning Musical Club in Montréal. As well as his regular recital partner Itamar Golan, Yossif has collaborated with the Ingrid Fliter, Frank Braley, David Kadouch and Plamena Mangova.
Highlights for 11/12 included debuts with the Philharmonia Orchestra (Bruch), Orchestra Sinfonica della RAI (Bartók 2), Vancouver Symphony (Mendelssohn), as well as return visits to the Brabants Orchestra (Bruch), Orchestre National d'Ile de France (Brahms), etc.
Future orchestral projects include debuts with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (Bruch), the Oregon Symphony (Dutilleux), the Polish Chamber Orchestra in Stuttgart (Beethoven) and a re-invitation with the Brno Philharmonic (Mendelssohn), the Jenaer Philharmonie (Beethoven) and several Belgian orchestras. Future recital engagements include performances at the Montreal Chamber Music Society, Salzburg Mozarteum, Brussels (Bozar), as well as a tour in Italy (Ravenna, Ferrara and Imola).
His debut recording on the Ambroisie/Naïve label (sonatas by Franck,Ysaye & D'Haene) was awarded a Diapason d’Or de l’Année. Both his concerto recordings (concerti by Bartók & Shostakovich, as well as a Dutilleux-CD) also received high critical acclaim.
Ivanov has studied the violin with Zakhar Bron, Igor & Valery Oistrakh and Augustin Dumay. Since 2008 he is the youngest violin teacher at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels.
Yossif Ivanov plays on the 1699 “Lady Tennant” Stradivarius, kindly lent by the Stradivarius Society of Chicago.