Shlomo Mintz

Shlomo Mintz (born October 30, 1957) is a highly regarded Israeli violin virtuoso, violinist and conductor.

Worldwide he is praised for his impeccable musicianship, stylistic versatility and commanding technique alike.

Mr. Mintz regularly appears with leading orchestras and conductors and performs in recitals and chamber music concerts all around the world.

In 1997 he played Paganini's famous "Il Cannone", a violin made by Italian luthier Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesù, in 1742, during a special concert in Maastricht in the Netherlands with the Limburg Symphony Orchestra and conductor Yoel Levi. This concert was an initiative of a Dutch television network (TROS) and aired on TV in December 1997.

Training and early career

He was born on October 30, 1957 in Moscow. In 1959, at the age of two Shlomo Mintz emigrated with his family from Moscow to Israel, where he studied with the renowned Ilona Feher, one of the last representatives of the Central European Violin School.

Mrs. Feher introduced Shlomo Mintz to Isaac Stern, who became his mentor.

He was also a student of Dorothy Delay in New York.

Shlomo Mintz began his career at age 11 as a soloist with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. Soon afterwards he was called on a week's notice by Zubin Mehta to play Paganini's first Violin Concerto with the orchestra when Itzhak Perlman fell ill. He made his Carnegie Hall debut at the age of sixteen in a concert with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra that was presented under the auspices of Isaac Stern and the American-Israel Cultural Foundation, and subsequently began his studies with Dorothy DeLay at the Juilliard School of Music in New York.

Conducting

At the age of eighteen, Shlomo Mintz added the role of conductor to his artistic endeavours and has since conducted acclaimed orchestras worldwide, such as the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (United Kingdom), the NHK Symphony Orchestra (Japan) and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.

He was Music Advisor of the Israel Chamber Orchestra from 1989 to 1993 and in March 1994 he was named Artistic Advisor and Principal Guest Conductor of the Maastricht Symphony Orchestra (The Netherlands). He led the orchestra in weeks of concerts during four seasons, including some as both conductor and violin soloist.

In 2008 Shlomo Mintz was named Principal Guest Conductor of the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra.

Teaching

Shlomo Mintz is patron and one of the founders of the Keshet Eilon International Violin Mastercourse in Israel, an advanced-level summer programme for young talented violinists from all around the world in kibbutz Eilon, Israel, and gives master classes worldwide.

Competition jury

He has been a member of the jury of several important international competitions, such as the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow (1993) and the Queen Elisabeth International Music Competition in Brussels (1993 and 2001).

In October 2001 Mr. Mintz was President of the Jury of the International Henryk Wieniawski Competition for the Violin in Poznań, Poland.

Since 2002 Shlomo Mintz is Artistic Director of the Sion-Valais International Music Festival, and President of the Jury of the Sion Valais-International Violin Competition in Switzerland.
[http://www.sion-festival.ch/sion-festival.asp?Valais=en&festival=sion-en]

In order to bring a different insight into this Violin Competition, he cooperated with Swiss musician educator Nicole Coppey to create a Jury with children between 6 and 16.

Shlomo Mintz - Honorary Doctorate

In May 2006 Shlomo Mintz was granted an Honorary Doctoral Degree by the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Be’er Sheva, Israel.

Awards

*Premio Accademia Musicale Chigiana, Siena
*Diapason D’Or
*Grand Prix du Disque (thrice)
*Gramophone Award
*Edison Award (twice)

Photos

Copyright ©2000-2006, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.

© Prague Spring

© Prague Spring

© Prague Spring

© Prague Spring

Copyright ©2000 - 2006, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.

Videos of Shlomo Mintz

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQPSQzfOrL4 Sibelius Violin Concerto 3rd movement]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5g4f0N_g6n8 Kreisler's Recitativo & Scherzo]

Discography

Shlomo Mintz maintains an active recording schedule as both soloist and conductor.

He recorded for labels such as Deutsche Grammophon, Erato, RCA Victor, Avie Records and Challenge Records. Most of Mr. Mintz’s recordings with Deutsche Grammophon were re-released, such as his first recording (Bruch/Mendelssohn), which was re-released in DG’s ‘Grand Prix’ Series, (“The world’s finest recordings”), in April 2007.

This is an incomplete list of his recordings:
*Bach Sonatas & Partitas for Solo Violin BWV 1001 – 1006, Deutsche Grammophon
*Bartók 2 Portraits, Deutsche Grammophon
*Bartók Violin Concerto No. 1, RN
*Beethoven Violin Concerto, Beethoven Romance No. 1, Beethoven Romance No. 2, Deutsche Grammophon
*Brahms Complete Violin & Viola Sonatas, Avie Records and Magnatune
*Brahms Violin Concerto, Deutsche Grammophon
*Bruch Violin Concerto, Deutsche Grammophon (first recording together with Mendelssohn Violin Concerto)
*Debussy Violin Sonata in G, Ravel Violin Sonata in G, Franck Violin Sonata in A, Deutsche Grammophon
*Dvorak Violin Concerto, Deutsche Grammophon
*Fauré Violin Sonata No. 1 op. 13, Fauré Violin Sonata No. 2 op. 108, Deutsche Grammophon
*Israel Philharmonic 60th Anniversary Gala Concert, RCA Victor
*Kreisler Various Compositions, Deutsche Grammophon
*Lalo Symphonie Espagnole, Vieuxtemps Concerto No. 5, Saint-Saëns ‘Introduction et Rondo capricioso’, Deutsche Grammophon
*Mendelssohn Violin Concerto, Deutsche Grammophon (first recording, together with Bruch Violin Concerto)
*Mendelssohn Violin Sonata in F Minor, Mendelssohn Violin Sonata in F Major, Deutsche Grammophon
*Mozart Sinfonia Concertante for Violin and Viola KV 364, RCA Victor
*Mozart The Five Violin Concertos, Sinfonia Concertante, Concertone, Avie Records (also on Magnatune)
*Paganini 24 Caprices for Solo Violin op. 1, Deutsche Grammophon
*Prokofiev Violin Concertos No. 1 & 2, Deutsche Grammophon
*Prokofiev Violin Sonata No. 1 op. 80, Prokofiev Violin Sonata No. 2 op. 94, Deutsche Grammophon
*Shostakovitch Violin Sonata op.134, Shostakovitch Viola Sonata op.147, Erato
*Sibelius Violin Concerto, Deutsche Grammophon
*Stravinsky ‘Histoire du Soldat’, Valois
*Vivaldi ‘The Four Seasons’, Deutsche Grammophon
*Vivaldi Complete collection of Violin Concertos (10 Volumes), MusicMasters Classics.*

Shlomo Mintz Press

...The most ravishingly beautiful playing we mortals can hope to hear...(Milwaukee Sentinel)

Read more... [http://www.last.fm/user/HelenaDolphin/journal/2006/05/14/135549/]

See also

*List of violinists