Nikolai Znaider (Violin soloist)
In addition to his successful international career as a violinist, the Dane
Nikolaj Znaider has appeared over several seasons as a conductor, receiving
engagements from the world’s leading orchestras.
He studied the violin at the Danish Royal Academy of Music under Milan Vitek.
In 1992 he won 1st prize at the Carl Nielsen Competition in Copenhagen, becoming
the youngest ever winner in the history of that competition. He perfected his
skills at the Julliard School in New York under the tutelage of renowned teacher
Ivan Galamian’s pupil Dorothy DeLay, whose other pupils have included Itzhak
Perlman, Shlomo Mintz and Gil Shaham. From 1994 he took lessons in Vienna under
Boris Kuschnir. The start of Znaider’s international career came with his
victory at the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels (1997). In recent years
he has performed with orchestras under the batons of Daniel Barenboim, Mstislav
Rostropovich, Mariss Jansons and other conductors. Nikolaj Znaider has
longstanding connections with St Petersburg; as far back as 1998 and 2000 he
took part in the Musical Olympus festival, while since 2007 he has been a
regular guest at the Stars of the White Nights festival.
In 1998 Nikolaj Znaider founded the Northern Academy of Music – an annual
summer school the aim of which is to give young performers first-class musical
education. Znaider was Director of the academy for ten years.
The musician’s discography includes violin concerti by Elgar (with the
Dresdner Staatskappelle under Sir Colin Davis, 2010), Brahms and Korngold (with
the Wiener Philharmoniker under Valery Gergiev, 2009), Beethoven and Mendelssohn
(with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra under Zubin Mehta, 2005), Prokofiev and
Glazunov (with the Bayerische Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester under Mariss Jansons,
2002) and Nielsen and Bruch (with the London Philharmonic Orchestra under
Lawrence Foster, 2001). Together with Yefim Bronfman he recorded all of Johannes
Brahms’ works for violin and piano.
In 2012 Nikolaj Znaider became the first performer of the violin concerto
Sacrocanto by Austrian composer Herbert Willi, which is dedicated to him.
The musician plays a violin crafted by Giuseppe Guarnieri in 1741 from a
collection once owned by Fritz Kreisler.
As a guest conductor and soloist, Nikolaj Znaider collaborates with the
Münchner Philharmoniker, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the
Pittsburgh Symphony, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the Hallé
Orchestra and the Swedish Chamber Orchestra (where he held the post of Principal
Guest Conductor) and many other ensembles. Each season Znaider gives several
recitals with the London Symphony Orchestra. Since 2010 Nikolaj Znaider has been
Principal Guest Conductor of the Mariinsky Orchestra. In the 2015–2016 season at
the Mariinsky Theatre he will be conducting the operas Così fan tutte, Don
Giovanni and Lohengrin as well as symphony music concerts. A subscription series
of concerts with Znaider is also planned.
|