AUGUSTIN DUMAY is a major figure in contemporary violin performance. He is acclaimed as a “great classical stylist”, “one of the greatest violinists of our times” ( Strad Magazine). Beethoven’s complete sonatas with Maria João Pires, “surely ranks with Grumiaux/Haskil, Menuhin/Kempff, or Perlman/Ashkenazy” (International Piano).
Brahms’ trios in which “the Milstein legacy in Dumay’s playing is wonderfully apparent” (Gramophone), and Mozart’s concertos with the Camerata Salzburg, “without exaggeration one of the finest Mozart violin concerto discs ever made” (Classic CD), in which he “confirms that he is an exceptional interpreter of Mozart as were Stern or Grumiaux before him” (Classica).
Augustin Dumay got the chance to become a discovery for the audience, thanks to his collaboration with Herbert von Karajan, his concerts with the Berlin Philharmonic, his recordings for Warner with performances of Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky, Saint-Saëns and Lalo’s Violin Concertos. He has since soloed for leading European ensembles including the London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, London Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, Bayreuth Radio Orchestra, Mahler Chamber, Salzburg Chamber, Tonhalle Zürich, Alte Oper Frankfurt, Orpheus Chamber, Los Angeles Philharmonic and Montreal Symphony Orchestra. He has played under the direction of such notable musicians as Seiji Ozawa, Sir Colin Davis, Christoph von Dohnányi, Charles Dutoit, Gennadi Rozhdestvensky, Andrew Davis, David Zinman, Yuri Temirkanov, Kurt Masur, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Kurt Sanderling, and Ivan Fischer. He has also collaborated with impressive young conductors such as Daniel Harding, Alan Gilbert, Robin Ticciati and Maxim Emelyanychev.
Mo. Dumay has also become very active as a conductor. He is regularly invited to conduct orchestras such as the China Philharmonic, the English Chamber Orchestra, the New Japan Philharmonic, the New Jersey Symphony, the Sinfonia Varsovia, the Prague Philharmonic, the Orchestre National de Montpellier. Since 2011, he has been Music Director of the Kansai Philharmonic Orchestra (Osaka, Japan), which will make its second European tour under his leadership in October 2023.
Since 2004, he has been a Master in residence at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel (Brussels) where he coaches a group of highly talented young violinists, many of whom have won prizes at major international competitions.
His discography – some 40 recordings, the majority of which have received prestigious awards (Gramophone Awards, Audiophile Audition, Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik, Grand Prix du Disque, The Record Academy Award) – is available on the EMI, Deutsche Grammophon and Onyx Classics labels. Among Dumay’s recent recordings are the Beethoven Concerto with Sinfonia Varsovia, Bartok’s Concerto No. 2 with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and Kent Nagano, and Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra.
Dumay plays a 1743 Guarnerius del Gesù violin previously owned by Leonid Kogan.