Ilya Gringolts

The Russian violinist Ilya Gringolts was born in St. Petersburg in 1982, studied violin and composition there and perfected his skills in lessons with Itzhak Perlman at New York's Juilliard School. In 1998, while still a student of Perlman, he became the youngest violinist ever to win the International Paganini Competition in Genova, which opened the door to a world career.

Since then, Ilya Gringolts has developed into an unconventional artist whose playing is characterised by uncompromisingness, expressivity and richness of colour. Beyond the traditional concert repertoire he naturally cultivates, Gringolts takes a lively interest in historically informed performance practice, in side paths of music history and in the music of the present. The recently released CD Ciaccona, which features music for solo violin by Heinz Holliger, Roberto Gerhard and, illuminating each other, by Johann Sebastian Bach and Brice Pauset, attests to his stylistic versatility.

Gringolts' interest in chamber music goes far beyond occasional forays into it. The Gringolts Quartet he founded has been playing together since 2008 and can compete with the best string quartets of our time. The violinist's agenda this year included chamber music concerts ranging from duos to octets as well as performances of the violin concertos by John Adams, Matthias Pintscher, Sergei Prokofiev and Ottorino Respighi.

As of August 2022