Spivakov, Vladimir
Spivakov, Vladimir
Spivakov, Vladimir, notable Russian violinist and conductor; b. Ufa, Sept. 12, 1944. He studied violin with Veniamin Sher at the music school of the Leningrad Cons. (1956–60) and with Yankelevich at the Moscow Cons. (graduated, 1967). He also received training in conducting. After taking prizes in the Long-Thibaud (Paris, third, 1965), Paganini (Genoa, second, 1967), Montreal (first, 1969), and Tchaikovsky (Moscow, second, 1970) competitions, he toured widely as a violin virtuoso. On Feb. 2, 1975, he made his N.Y. debut, and in 1977 he played in London. In 1979 he made his debut as a conductor with the Chicago Sym. Orch. at the Ravinia Festival. That same year, he founded the Moscow Virtuosi, a chamber orch. with which he served as principal soloist, artistic director, and conductor. He led it on many tours abroad and in various recordings. From 1989 he also was artistic director of the Colmar International Festival in France, and from 1999 music director of the Russian National Orch. in Moscow.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire