Lidia Baich

LIDIA BAICH is known to the Bulgarian audience from her concerts with the Sofia Philharmonic and her chamber performances. She has been actively performing with partners such as Helmut Deutsch, Nobuko Imai, Alexander Knyazev, Lars Anders Tomter, Aleksey Igudesman, Donka Angatscheva, Hyung-ki Joo, Boris Giltburg, members of the Vienna Philharmonic, the Vienna Brahms Trio and others. She has appeared as a soloist with elite orchestras in Europe, Asia, South America, USA, South Africa, Russia and India, including the New York Philharmonic, St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Tokyo Philharmonic and NHK Orchestra, Berlin Symphony Orchestra, Bavarian Radio Orchestra, Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Nationale de France, Arturo Toscanini Orchestra, Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra and Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. She has performed under the batons of Ádám Fischer, Philippe Jordan, Yuri Temirkanov, Yukka-Pekka Saraste, Kristjan Järvi, Bertrand de Billy, Lorin Maazel, Vladimir Fedoseyev and Cornelius Meister. Baich received her first violin lessons at the age of four in his native St. Petersburg. She graduated in the class of Prof. Boris Kuschnir at the University of Vienna. She received her first prize for violin performance at an international competition at the age of eight. A number of other competition first prizes followed, eventually crowned by the Grand Prix d'Eurovision at the age of sixteen, and receiving the European Musician of the Year award from the hands of Lord Yehudi Menuhin. Lidia Baich has been featured on the programs of the Vienna Festival Weeks, Salzburg Festival, Dubrovnik International Music Festival, Moritzburg Festival, Jerusalem Chamber Music Festival, and the Johannesburg Mozart Festival. She also made an appearance at the tenth anniversary of „Pavarotti and Friends“ in Modena. Her artistic interpretations in other genres have taken her to projects with Deep Purple, Hubert von Goisern or at the Komische Oper Berlin in a successful co-production with the Staatsballett Berlin. She has performed projects with opera singers such as Piotr Beczala, Thomas Hampson, Elina Garanca, Ervin Schroth and Andreas Schager at the Berlin and Vienna State Operas as well as at the Bolshoi Theater Moscow. CDs by Lidia Baich have been released under the label of Deutsche Grammophon. She is a jury member of the Yehudi Menuhin International Competition for Young Violinists and Eurovision. Ms. Baich holds a professorship at the University of Music and Art in Vienna. She is founder of the association "Opera meets Nature" and is involved in reforestation projects and also supports various foundations that encourage young musicians. Ms Baich has been Artistic Director at the Thalheim Castle in Lower Austria, since 2022. She was awarded the Gold Medal of Honour for services to the Republic of Austria. Lidia Baich plays on a violin by Jean Baptiste Vuillaume from 1860.