Maxim Vengerov

Maxim Vengerov began his career as a solo violinist at the age of five and won the Wieniawski and Carl Flesch international competitions at ages 10 and 15, respectively. He studied with Galina Tourchaninova and Zakhar Bron and made his first recording at the age of 10, going on to earn, among others, Grammy and Gramophone artist of the year awards. Maxim has conducted major orchestras around the world, including the Montreal and Toronto Symphony Orchestras, and in 2010 he was appointed the first chief conductor of the Gstaad Festival Orchestra. He currently holds the Stephan and Viktoria Schmidheiny Stiftungsprofessur at the Mozarteum University Salzburg, and since September 2016 he is also the Polonsky Visiting Professor of Violin at the Royal College of Music. In 1997 Maxim became the first classical musician to be appointed International Goodwill Ambassador by UNICEF. He is also a patron of the MIAGI project in South Africa, which connects children of different ethnic backgrounds through music.