Vesko Eschkenazy

Last updated
Vesko Eschkenazy giving concert at the opening the exhibition "Fragile Tolerance", National Historical Museum, Sofia, Bulgaria, 9 Nov. 2015 Vesko-Panteleev-Eschkenazy-20151109-National-History-Museum,Sofia.jpg
Vesko Eschkenazy giving concert at the opening the exhibition "Fragile Tolerance", National Historical Museum, Sofia, Bulgaria, 9 Nov. 2015

Vesko Eschkenazy (born 1970) is a violinist who serves as the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra's concertmaster. [1]

Contents

Biography

Born into a Bulgarian-Jewish family in 1970, Vesko Panteleev Eschkenazy [2] became a child prodigy in the field of music when he appeared as an orchestra leader. At 11 years old, he went on to become the concertmaster of the youth Philharmonic Orchestra of Prof. Vladi Simeonov. He is a graduate of the L. Pipkov National Music School in Sofia and of the P. Vladiguerov State Music Academy where he studied violin with Angelina Atanassova and Prof. Petar Hristoskov.

In 1990, Eschkenazy left Bulgaria for London and completed a two-year master's degree for solo performers with Prof. Ifrah Neaman at the Guildhall School of Music, and received a Solo Recital Diploma – 1992. He is a laureate of the International Violin Competitions "Wieniawski", Beijing and Carl Flesch in London. He performs extensively in Europe, USA, South America, India, China and takes part in the festivals Midem in Cannes, Montpellier and Atlantic – France, the Music Festivals in Nantes and Rheims, the New Year Music Festival in Sofia, Varna Summer and Apolonia.

Vesko Eschkenazy has performed as soloist with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, Monte Carlo Philharmonic, Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra, Mexico City Symphony, the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, Prague Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, Bach Chamber Orchestra – Berlin to name a few. He has taken part in concerts alongside Montserrat Caballe, Plácido Domingo, Alexis Weissenberg, Yuri Bashmet, and Mstislav Rostropovich and has played under the direction of Mariss Jansons, Bernard Haitink, Riccardo Chailly, Kurt Masur, Sir Colin Davis, Carlo-Maria Giulini, Seiji Ozawa, and Emil Tchakarov.

Since the summer of 2000 Vesko Eschkenazy has been playing the Adam Wurlitzer Guarneri del Gesu violin from 1738 through the RCO Foundation. [3]

Performances

"Vesko Eschkenazy is a brilliant violinist" – remarked the De Telegraaf in November 2000, one of the largest dailies in the Kingdom of Netherlands, after his interpretation of the Violin Concerto No. 1 by Szymanowski with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam. Eschkenazy has been its concertmaster since the beginning of the 1999/2000 season.

Each concert season is extremely full of engagements for Vesko Eschkenazy; some of his most outstanding performances were that of Mozart's Violin Concerto in A Major under Mariss Jansons, and the Dvořák Violin Concerto under Sir Colin Davis and coming up in November 2008 performances of the Barber Violin Concerto conducted by Jaap van Zweden, all with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. In April–May 2009 Eschkenazy performed extensively with his brother, the conductor Martin Panteleev, with whom he performed the Dvořák Violin Concerto with Orkest van het Oosten, Mozart's A Major Concerto No. 5 with the Concertgebouw Chamber Orchestra and many other works. The two brothers accomplished a tour to Sofia and Istanbul with the Concertgebouw Chamber Orchestra in the same time.

Vesko Eschkenazy records for Pentatone, his recording with the Concertgebouw Chamber Orchestra of violin concertos by Mozart, Mendelssohn and Schubert received high appraisal from critics. On this occasion the Luister Magazine, Holland remarks: "Vesko Eschkenazy writes history with his new super recording for the Pentatone Classics of the violin concertos by Mozart and Mendelssohn". Michael Libovits (USA's Classics Today), wrote: "he tackles Mozart with brilliance; Schubert with a stable phrasing … his warm, well rounded tone competes with any other recording of a famous violinist …"

In 1995 Vesko Eschkenazy joined the pianist Ludmil Angelov to perform sonata duos. They have given a large number of concerts in Europe, exceptionally successful and warmly accepted were those by the Spanish audiences (in the cities of Gijon, Toledo and Madrid). This was a project of the Vesko Eschkenazy – Ludmil Angelov Duo presenting, in four successive evening cycles, the complete Mozart sonatas for violin and piano. Their joint Russian Music CD has been released by the Gega New Music House. Their second album, "The Fascinating George Gershwin", has been released by Pentatone. In October 2007 the musicians performed a recital in a sold-out "Bulgaria Hall" in Sofia, broadcast live by Bulgarian national television.

The 2010/2011 season Vesko started with open air performance in the very centre of Sofia with the Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra gathering the largest audience for classical concert ever. In the same season he will be artist in residence in the Bulgaria Hall in Sofia with 4 recitals and performance of the Bruch Violin Concerto in G minor with the Sofia Philharmonic. He will perform the same work with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and Kurt Masur in the 2011/2012 season. His last performances with Eduard Lalo's Symphonie Espagnole with RCO in Amsterdam and in Cape Town and Sofia in 2013/2014 were memorable. His new all Bach CD with the Concertgebouw Chamber Orchestra is out on PENTATONE.

Competition record

Discography

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Isaac Stern</span> American violinist (1920–2001)

Isaac Stern was an American violinist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrew Manze</span> British conductor and violinist

Andrew Manze is a British conductor and violinist, noted for his interpretation of Baroque violin music.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arabella Steinbacher</span> German classical violinist

Arabella Miho Steinbacher is a German classical violinist.

Cho-Liang Lin, born in Hsinchu, Taiwan, is an American violinist who is renowned for his appearances as a soloist with major orchestras. Musical America named him its "Instrumentalist of the Year" in 2000. He founded the Taipei International Music Festival in 1997, the largest classical music festival in the history of Taiwan, performing to an indoor audience of over 53,000 and the Taipei Music Academy & Festival in 2019, a summer music festival.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Philippe Herreweghe</span> Belgian conductor

Philippe Maria François Herreweghe, Knight Herreweghe is a Belgian conductor and choirmaster.

Lawrence Foster is an American conductor of Romanian ancestry.

Daniel Müller-Schott is a German cellist.

Yakov Kreizberg was a Russian-born American conductor.

Gordan Nikolitch, also spelled Gordan Nikolić, is a Franco-Serbian violinist. He was the first concertmaster of the London Symphony Orchestra for nearly 20 years, having stepped down in October 2017 to concentrate on directing and teaching.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mari Kodama</span> Japanese musician

Mari Kodama is a classical pianist who has performed in Europe, North America and Japan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Johannes Moser (cellist)</span> German-Canadian cellist

Johannes Moser is a German-Canadian cellist who has played with leading orchestras internationally.

Antônio Meneses Neto is a Brazilian cellist with the National Symphony Orchestra. Meneses was born into a family of musicians; his father was first horn player at the Opera of Rio de Janeiro. He began to study the cello when he was ten. During a tour in South America, the famous cellist Antonio Janigro met him and asked him to join his classes in Düsseldorf and then in Stuttgart. In 1977, he won the first prize at the International Competition in Munich and in 1982 he was awarded first prize and gold medal at the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liviu Prunaru</span> Romanian musician

Liviu Prunaru is a Romanian violinist. He serves as the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra's concertmaster together with Vesko Eschkenazy.

Gustavo Núñez is a Uruguayan bassoonist trained at Musikhochschule Hannover and the Royal College of Music. He has served as principal bassoon of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, together with Ronald Karten, since 1995.

Eduard Philip Spanjaard, known professionally as Ed Spanjaard, is a Dutch conductor and pianist.

The Signum Quartet is a string quartet based in Bremen, Germany. Founded in 1994, it has been playing in the current formation since 2016.

Martin Helmchen is a German pianist. He has played with international orchestras and has recorded discs of many classical composers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gustavo Gimeno</span> Spanish conductor

Gustavo Gimeno is a Spanish conductor. He is currently chief conductor of the Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra and music director of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.

Asuka Sezaki is a Japanese classical violinist who made an international career.

Stoika Milanova is a Bulgarian classical violinist and academic teacher. She was taught by her father using a method that he developed, and later by the violinist David Oistrakh. After placing second in the Queen Elisabeth Competition (1967) and winning the Carl Flesch Competition (1970), Milanova began an international career as a soloist and recitalist, which was at its height during the 1970s and early 1980s. Her recording of the two Prokofiev violin concertos received a Grand Prix du Disque from the French Académie Charles Cros. She taught at the State Conservatory of Venezuela (2005–10) and, as of 2016, holds the chair of violin at the State Academy of Music of Sofia.

References

  1. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on June 10, 2011. Retrieved July 26, 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
  2. Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine : John Williams, "Schindler's List" - FORTISSIMO FEST 2012. YouTube .
  3. "Vesko Eschkenazy – RCO". www.concertgebouworkest.nl. Archived from the original on 2018-06-29.

1. http://hbartistmanagement.com/?page_id=117 2. https://www.facebook.com/veschkenazy?ref=bookmarks 3. https://web.archive.org/web/20140603233114/http://concertgebouworkest.nl/en/orchestra/musician/violin-1/Eschkenazy-Vesko/ 4. http://www.pentatonemusic.com/artists/vesko-eschkenazy-soloist