Vladimir Ashkenazy | |
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Владимир Ашкенази | |
 Vladimir Ashkenazy in 2007 | |
| Born | (1937-07-06)July 6, 1937 (age 88) |
| Occupations | Pianist, chamber music performer, conductor |
| Parents |
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| Awards | Grammy Awards (7 times) Order of the Falcon (Iceland) |
Vladimir Davidovich Ashkenazy (Russian:Влади́мир Дави́дович Ашкена́зи,tr.Vladimir Davidovich Ashkenazi; born 6 July 1937)[1] is aSoviet-born Icelandic pianist, chamber music performer, andconductor. Ashkenazy has collaborated with well-known orchestras and soloists. In addition, he has recorded a large repertoire of classical and romantic works. His recordings have earned him sevenGrammy Awards and he has been awarded three stages of Iceland'sOrder of the Falcon for his overall contribution to music.
Vladimir Ashkenazy was born in Gorky, Soviet Union (nowNizhny Novgorod, Russia), to pianist and composerDavid Ashkenazi and to actress Yevstolia Grigorievna (born Plotnova). His father was Jewish and his mother came from a RussianOrthodox family. Ashkenazy was christened in a Russian Orthodox church.[2][3][4] He began playingpiano at the age of six and was accepted to the Central Music School at age eight, studying withAnaida Sumbatyan.
Ashkenazy attended theMoscow Conservatory where he studied withLev Oborin andBoris Zemliansky. He won second prize in theV International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw in 1955 and the first prize in theQueen Elisabeth Music Competition in Brussels in 1956. He shared the first prize in the 1962International Tchaikovsky Competition with British pianistJohn Ogdon. As a student, like many in that period, he was harassed by theKGB to become an "informer".[5]
| External audio | |
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 You may listen to Vladimir Ashkenazy performingFrédéric Chopin's:Études Op. 10 Études Op. 25 Nocturne in B major, Op. 9, No. 3 Ballade No. 2 andFranz Liszt'sMephisto Waltz No. 1 in 1960here on archive.org |
Ashkenazy has recorded a wide range of piano repertoire, both solo works and concerti. His recordings include:
His concerto recordings include:
In public piano performances, Ashkenazy was known for rejecting a tie and button shirt in favor of a white turtleneck and for running (not walking) onstage and offstage. He has also performed and recorded chamber music. Moreover, Ashkenazy has had an acclaimed collaborative career, including an acclaimed recording ofBeethoven's completeviolin sonatas withItzhak Perlman, as well as the cello sonatas withLynn Harrell, and the piano trios with Harrell andPerlman.
Midway through his international pianistic career, Ashkenazy branched into conducting. In Europe, Ashkenazy was principal conductor of theRoyal Philharmonic Orchestra from 1987 to 1994, 1989-1999 Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of theDeutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin (initial name was Radio-Symphonie-Orchester Berlin)[6] and of theCzech Philharmonic from 1998 to 2003. Ashkenazy is also conductor laureate of thePhilharmonia Orchestra, conductor laureate of theIceland Symphony Orchestra, and music director of theEuropean Union Youth Orchestra.[7] In July 2013 he became director of theAccademia Pianistica Internazionale di Imola, succeeding its founder and directorFranco Scala.[8] His recordings as a conductor include complete cycles of the symphonies of Sibelius and of Rachmaninoff, as well as orchestral works of Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Scriabin,Richard Strauss,Stravinsky, Beethoven, and Tchaikovsky.
Outside of Europe, Ashkenazy served as music director of theNHK Symphony Orchestra from 2004 to 2007. He was chief conductor of theSydney Symphony Orchestra from 2009 to 2013.[9]
Ashkenazy has recorded forDecca since 1963; in 2013, Decca celebrated his 50th anniversary with the label with the box set 'Vladimir Ashkenazy: 50 Years on Decca', including 50 of Ashkenazy's recordings as both pianist and conductor.[10] As part of Ashkenazy's 80th birthday celebrations, Decca is releasing the 'Complete Piano Concerto Recordings' and 'Ashkenazy on Vinyl' in July 2017. In other media, Ashkenazy has also appeared in several films on music byChristopher Nupen. He interpreted the soundtrack of the film Piano Forest: works from the repertoire of Bach, Mozart, Chopin and Beethoven. He has also made his own orchestration ofModest Mussorgsky's piano suitePictures at an Exhibition (1982). There has been a CD produced of his works named 'The Art of Ashkenazy', and a biography of Ashkenazy, 'Beyond Frontiers', has been published.
On 17 January 2020 the artist management agencyHarrison Parrott announced Ashkenazy's retirement from public performance.[11]
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In 1961, he married theIceland-born Þórunn Jóhannsdóttir, who studiedpiano at theMoscow Conservatory.[2] To marry Ashkenazy, Þórunn was forced to give up her Icelandic citizenship and declare that she wanted to live in the USSR. Her name is usually transliterated as "Thorunn"; her nickname is Dódý,[12] so she is called Dódý Ashkenazy.[13]
After numerous bureaucratic procedures, the Soviet authorities agreed to allow the Ashkenazys to visitthe West for musical performances and for visits to his parents-in-law with their first grandson. In his memoirs, Soviet leaderNikita Khrushchev recollected that Ashkenazy on a visit toLondon had refused to return to the Soviet Union. Khrushchev mentioned that Ashkenazy then sought advice from the Soviet Embassy in London, who in turn referred the matter to Moscow. Khrushchev said he was of the opinion that to require Ashkenazy to return to the USSR would have made him an "Anti-Soviet". He further said that this was a good example of an artist being able to come and go in and out of the USSR freely, which Ashkenazy said was a gross "distortion of the truth".[14] In 1963, Ashkenazy decided to leave the USSR permanently, establishing residence in London, where his wife's parents lived.
The couple moved to Iceland in 1968 where, in 1972, Ashkenazy became an Icelandic citizen.[15] In 1970 he helped to found theReykjavík Arts Festival, of which he remains Honorary President.[16][17] In 1978 the couple and their (then) four children (Vladimir Stefan, Nadia Liza, Dimitri Thor, and Sonia Edda) moved toLucerne, Switzerland. Their fifth child, Alexandra Inga, was born in 1979. Beginning in 1989, Ashkenazy resided inMeggen, Switzerland, onLake Lucerne.[18] His eldest son Vladimir, who uses his nickname 'Vovka' as a stage name, is a pianist, as well as a teacher at the Imola International Piano Academy. His second son, Dimitri, is a clarinetist.
Ashkenazy has been recognised byThe Recording Academy several times. He won sevenGrammy Awards from 21 nominations.[19]
TheARIA Music Awards is an annual awards ceremony that recognises excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres ofAustralian music. They commenced in 1987.
| Year | Nominee / work | Award | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Elgar: The Dream of Gerontius (withSydney Symphony Orchestra) | Best Classical Album | Nominated | [25] |
The Guardian wrote in 2018 that Ashkenazy conducted pieces byProkofiev andGlière as if he had been "born to do it" during a concert series that explored the musical response to theBolshevik Revolution of 1917, including composerAlexander Mosolov'sIron Foundry (1927) and thesuite fromThe Red Poppy, aballet with music by Glière.[26]
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| Preceded by | Principal Conductor, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin 1989–1999 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Music Director, NHK Symphony Orchestra 2004–2007 | Vacant |
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