Vladimir Ashkenazy has often been quoted as saying that for him music
is indivisible. This conviction is borne out by his passionate engagement
with so many different aspects of music-making, whether as conductor,
piano recitalist or chamber musician or as the architect of large-scale
projects encompassing the full range of musical activities.
The first part of his long life as a musician was devoted to the piano.
Building on the foundation of his studies at the Central School of Music
and Moscow Conservatoire and his success in winning second prize at
the Chopin Competition in Warsaw in 1955 and first prizes in the Queen
Elizabeth Competition in Brussels in 1956 and the Tchaikovsky Competition
in Moscow in 1962, he spent three decades touring the great musical
centres of the world, performing an ever-growing repertoire in recitals
and concertos and appearing with chamber music partners such as Itzhak
Perlman, Pinchas Zukerman, Lynn Harrell, Elisabeth Soederstroem, Barbara
Bonney and Matthias Goerne. During this time, he built up one of the
largest and most comprehensive recording catalogues of our day, encompassing
almost all the major works of the piano repertoire.
From the 1970s onwards, he became increasingly active as a conductor
and held positions over the years with the Philharmonia Orchestra (Principal
Guest Conductor), Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (Music Director), Cleveland
Orchestra (Principal Guest Conductor) and the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester
Berlin (Chief Conductor and Music Director). In addition, he made guest
appearances with some of the world's finest orchestras including the
Berlin Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, San
Francisco Symphony, Philadelphia and Concertgebouw Orchestras. He continues
to have a particularly close and rewarding relationship with the Philharmonia
Orchestra whom he led in the immensely successful Rachmaninov Festival
at the South Bank Centre in London in May 1999 and in a major tour of
the Far East, Australia and Japan in January/February 2000. Projects
planned for coming seasons include major series of works by Sibelius
and Prokofiev.
In January 1998, Ashkenazy took up the position of Chief Conductor of
the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra and since then has devoted himself
to a broad range of tours, recordings and special projects with the
aim of focussing appropriate attention on this great orchestra with
its very rich and individual musical tradition. During the 1999/2000
season which coincided with the 10th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution,
they appeared together in Europe, Japan, the United States and South
America, performing repertoire at the very heart of the orchestra's
history and cultural identity - from Mozart and Mahler to Krasa, Janacek
and Martinu. They continue their extensive touring programme in 2000/01
with appearances throughout Europe including the Barbican Centre and
the Proms in London, Vienna, Luzern, Germany and Greece.
Alongside his work with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, he also now
holds the positions of Music Director of the European Union Youth Orchestra
and Conductor Laureate of the Philharmonia Orchestra.
Vladimir Ashkenazy also continues to perform in recital throughout Europe,
the Far East and America and to add to his recording catalogue with
major releases such as the recent critically-acclaimed complete Shostakovich
Preludes & Fugues.
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