Boris Davidovich Belkin (; born 26 January 1948) is a Soviet-born violin virtuoso.
Teachers
He was taught by
Yuri Yankelevich and
Isaac Stern.
Early years
As a child prodigy he began studying the violin at the age of six, and made his first public appearance with
Kiril Kondrashin when he was seven. He studied at the Central Music School at the Moscow Conservatory with Professors
Yuri Yankelevich Felix Andrievsky and
Isaac Stern.
While still a student he played all over the Soviet Union with leading national orchestras, and in 1973 won first prize at the Soviet National competition for Violinists. However, he was not granted a visa to participate in the 1971 nor 1973 Paganini Competitions in Italy, and he decided to emigrate to Israel in 1974. He moved on to London, Paris and back to London. He met his Belgian wife at a Yehudi Menuhin festival in
Switzerland and settled in Liège. By 1990 he had become a Belgian citizen.
[ Personal Perfectionism;Edward Sainati profiles the Russian violinist Boris Belkin]
Career
In 1974 he emigrated to the west and since then has performed all over the world with many of the leading orchestras including the Boston Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Berlin Philharmonic, Israel Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, Montreal Symphony, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, and all major British Orchestras.
Boris Belkin has been featured in many television productions: a film biography of Jean Sibelius, performing the Sibelius Concerto with the Swedish Radio Orchestra and Ashkenazy, with Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic, performing the Tchaikovsky Concerto, with Bernstein and the Orchestre National de France playing Maurice Ravel Tzigane, and with Bernard Haitink and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra playing Mozart and Paganini violin concerto No.1.
Conductors with whom he has collaborated, include Bernstein, Ashkenazy, Zubin Mehta, Lorin Maazel, Riccardo Muti, Seiji Ozawa, Kurt Sanderling, Rudolf Barshai, Yuri Temirkanov, Dohnányi, Charles Dutoit, Gelmetti, Herbig, Klaus Tennstedt, Simon Rattle, Bernard Haitink, Paavo Berglund, Eduardo Mata, Kyung-wha Chung, Junichi Hirokami, Fedoseyev, Yuri Ahronovich, Charles Groves, Erich Leinsdorf, Steinberg, Welser-Möst, Lazarev, Doron Salomon, Yuri Simonov and many others.
In 1997 Isaac Stern invited Mr. Belkin to perform with him at the Miyazaki Festival.
Boris Belkin also dedicates himself to chamber music, performing with artists such as Yuri Bashmet, Mischa Maisky and many others.
Highlights of the 2007–2008 season include a tour with St. Petersburg Philharmonic and conductor Yuri Temirkanov, a tour in South America, concerts with the NHK Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo and performing the Sibelius Concerto with Sydney Symphony and Ashkenazy, concerts in London, Berlin, Barcelona, Rome.
Since 1987 Boris Belkin has held master classes at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, Italy, and since 1997 he is a faculty member at the Maastricht Academy of Music in the Netherlands.[ Boris Belkin at the Maastricht Conservatory faculty website][ Boris Belkin at the Accademia Muiscale Chigiana website] Janine Jansen was one of his students.
Discography
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Paganini Violin Concerto No. 1 with the Israel Philharmonic and Zubin Mehta
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Tchaikovsky and Sibelius Violin Concertos with the Philharmonia Orchestra and Ashkenazy, Strauss Violin Concerto with Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra and Ashkenazy
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Prokofiev Violin Concertos No. 1 and No. 2 with the London Symphony Orchestra and Kondrashin
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Brahms Concerto with the London Symphony Orchestra and Ivan Fischer
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Prokofiev Violin Concertos with the Zurich Tonhalle and Michael Stern
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Shostakovich Violin Concerto No. 1 and the Glazunov Violin Concerto with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Junichi Hirokami
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Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto with the London Philharmonic and Michael Stern
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Mozart Violin Concerto No. 5 and Sinfonia Concertante, K.364 with the Salzburg Chamber Soloists
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Brahms Violin Sonatas with Michel Dalberto.
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David M. Cummings, Dennis K. McIntire (Ed.): International who's who in music and musician's directory. In the classical and light classical fields. Twelfth edition 1990/91. International Who's Who in Music, Cambridge, England 1991.
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Alain Pâris: Dictionnaire des interpretes et de l'interpretation musicale au XX siecle. Éditions Robert Laffont, Paris 1989.
External links
