Biography

Israeli violinist Vadim Gluzman’s wide repertory brings to life the traditions of the nineteenth and twentieth century while also embracing new music. His performances are heard around the world through live broadcasts and a striking catalogue of award-winning recordings exclusively for the BIS label.

Born in the former Soviet Union in 1973, Mr. Gluzman began violin studies at age seven. He studied with Roman Sne in Latvia and Zakhar Bron in Russia before moving to Israel in 1990, where he became a student of Yair Kless. In the United States, he studied with Arkady Fomin in Dallas and at the Juilliard School with Dorothy DeLay and Masao Kawasaki. Early in his career, he enjoyed the encouragement and mentorship of Isaac Stern which continued until Stern’s passing in 2001. In 1994 he received the prestigious Henryk Szeryng Foundation Career Award.

Highlights of his 2017-18 season include appearances with the Boston Symphony under Tugan Sokhiev and debut performances with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra under Riccardo Chailly. Mr. Gluzman returns to Leipzig’s Gewandhaus Orchestra and celebrates Leonard Bernstein’s centennial year with performances of his Serenade for violin and orchestra with the BBC Symphony. He tours Europe as a trio with pianist Yevgeny Sudbin and cellist Johannes Moser, with engagements at London’s Wigmore Hall and Berlin’s Konzerthaus, and appears as soloist with the Toronto, Vancouver, Oregon, Göteborg, and Lucerne symphonies, the Czech Philharmonic, and the Finnish Radio Orchestra. He leads performances with the Vienna Chamber Orchestra and the ProMusica Chamber Orchestra of Columbus, OH, where he continues in his fourth year as Creative Partner and Principal Guest Artist. He made his San Francisco Symphony debut in 2008.

This season, Mr. Gluzman gives the European premiere of Sofia Gubaidulina’s Triple Concerto for Violin, Cello, and Bayan with Johannes Moser, Elsbeth Moser, and the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich under Omer Meir Wellber. He has given live and recorded premieres of other works by Gubaidulina, as well as Giya Kancheli, Pēteris Vasks, Michael Daugherty, Lera Auerbach, and most recently, Elena Firsova.

His latest CD for the BIS label features Brahms’s Violin Concerto with the Lucerne Symphony conducted by James Gaffigan and the composer’s Violin Sonata No. 1 with his wife, pianist Angela Yoffe. Accolades for his extensive discography include the Diapason d’Or of the Year, Gramophone’s Editor’s Choice, Classica Magazine’s esteemed Choc de Classica award, and Disc of the Month by The Strad, BBC Music Magazine, ClassicFM, and others.

Vadim Gluzman plays the legendary 1690 ‘ex-Leopold Auer’ Stradivari on extended loan to him through the generosity of the Stradivari Society of Chicago.

(February 2018)