Biography

Nikolaj Znaider performs as both conductor and violin soloist with the world’s leading orchestras. He has been Principal Guest Conductor of the Mariinsky Orchestra in Saint Petersburg since 2010, and he was previously principal guest conductor of the Swedish Chamber Orchestra.

Mr. Znaider enjoys a strong relationship with the London Symphony Orchestra, with whom he conducts and performs as soloist with every season. In the 2017-18 season he continues his Mozart recording project with the London Symphony Orchestra, playing and directing the Second and Third Concertos. Their recording of Mozart’s Violin Concertos Nos. 4 and 5 was released on the LSO Live label in March 2018. Mr. Znaider also appears regularly with the Boston Symphony, Staatskapelle Dresden, Cleveland Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, and Chicago Symphony, among others. He made his San Francisco Symphony debut in 2008.

Mr. Znaider’s extensive discography includes the Nielsen Violin Concerto with Alan Gilbert and the New York Philharmonic, the Elgar Violin Concerto with Colin Davis and the Staatskapelle Dresden, award-winning recordings of the Brahms and Korngold violin concertos with Valery Gergiev and the Vienna Philharmonic, the Beethoven and Mendelssohn violin concertos with Zubin Mehta and the Israel Philharmonic, Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 2 and Glazunov’s Violin Concerto with Mariss Jansons and the Bavarian Radio Symphony, and Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E minor on DVD with Riccardo Chailly and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. Mr. Znaider has also recorded the complete works of Brahms for violin and piano with Yefim Bronfman.

Passionate about supporting the next generation of musical talent, Mr. Znaider has spent ten years as Founder and Artistic Director of the annual Nordic Music Academy summer school, and is currently President of the Nielsen Competition, which takes place every three years in Odense, Denmark.

Mr. Znaider plays the 1741 “Kreisler” Guarnerius del Gesù violin on extended loan to him by the Royal Danish Theater through the generosity of the VELUX Foundation and the Knud Højgaard Foundation.

(June 2018)