Virtuosity, expressiveness, variety of sound and masterful technique are the distinctive qualities of the outstanding violinist VADIM REPIN. Born in 1971 in Novosibirsk, he studied violin with Zakhar Bron. At the age of 11, he won first prize at the Viennese Competition; at 14, he made his debut in Tokyo, Munich, Berlin and Helsinki; a year later, he played at Carnegie Hall in New York. At the age of 16, he won first prize at the Tibor Varga Competition; at 17, he became the youngest violinist to win first prize at the prestigious Queen Elisabeth Competition in Belgium.
In 2010 he was awarded in Paris the highest French distinction “Victoire d’Honneur” and “Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres”. Yehudi Menuhin said of him, “Vadim Repin is the best and most perfect violinist”.
He has performed on the greatest stages around the world with the world’s leading orchestras – the London, Los Angeles, St. Petersburg, New York, Radio France, Monte Carlo and Israel Philharmonics; the Toronto, Chicago, Moscow, San Francisco, London and NHK Tokyo Symphony Orchestras; the Orchestre de Paris, the Orchestre National de la Capitole de Toulouse and the Concertgebouw Orchestra-Amsterdam. He has performed under the batons of Charles Dutoit, Riccardo Chailly, Yuri Temirkanov, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Maris Jansons, Zubin Mehta, Myung-whun Chung, Riccardo Muti, Kent Nagano, Seiji Ozawa, Andris Nelsons and Christian Thielemann. His chamber music partners include Martha Argerich, Gautier Capuçon, Cecilia Bartoli, Evgeny Kissin, Nikolai Lugansky, Mischa Maisky and Lang Lang.
In 2014 he founded the Trans-Siberian Arts Festival in Novosibirsk and is its Artistic Director. Many works for violin by Lera Auerbach, Sofia Gubaidulina, Alexander Raskatov, Benjamin Yusupov have been commissioned by the festival and himself personally. The festival tours to other Russian cities as well as other countries – Japan, Israel, Austria, USA and France.
Vadim Repin and prima ballerina Svetlana Zakharova created Pas De Deux for Fingers and Toes. Their tour to China, Korea, Japan, Italy and Hong Kong is accompanied by standing ovations.
Repin performed the world premiere of James MacMillan’s First Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, which was dedicated to him (2010). Together with Daniel Hope and the Istanbul Borusan Philharmonic Orchestra, they performed the world premiere of Shadow Walker – a double Violin Concerto by Marc-Anthony Turnidge (2017). On the occasion of Arvo Pärt’s 85th birthday, they premiere the composer’s revised version for him of La Sindone.
The violinist is also known for his remarkable recordings of works by Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Brahms, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky and others for the Erato, Warner Classics and Deutsche Grammophon labels. Some of them have won prestigious awards such as “Echo Classic” and “BBC Music Award”.
In 2010, director Claudia Wilke created the documentary Vadim Repin, Magicien du Son (“Vadim Repin, Magician of Sound”), a co-production of ARTE, Bavarian Radio and VRT-Canvas.
Deeply committed to music education, Vadim Repin teaches master classes at the Salzburg Mozarteum. He is professor emeritus at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing and at the Shanghai Conservatory. He has been a jury member of the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow and the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels, as well as the Donatella Flick Conducting Competition in London.
Vadim Repin plays a master violin made by Niccolò Amati in 1664.