Vladimir Ashkenazy
One of the few artists to combine a successful career as a pianist and conductor, Russian-born Vladimir Ashkenazy inherited his musical gift from both sides of his family; his father David Ashkenazy was a professional light music pianist and his mother Evstolia (née Plotnova) was daughter of a chorus master in the Russian Orthodox church. Ashkenazy first came to prominence on the world stage in the 1955 Chopin Competition in Warsaw and as first prize-winner of the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels in 1956. Since then he has built an extraordinary career, not only as one of the most outstanding pianists of the 20th century, but as an artist whose creative life encompasses a vast range of activities and continues to offer inspiration to music-lovers across the world.
Conducting has formed the larger part of Ashkenazy’s activities for more than 35 years. He continues his longstanding relationship with the Philharmonia Orchestra, who appointed him Conductor Laureate in 2000. In addition to his performances with the orchestra in London and around the UK each season, Vladimir Ashkenazy joins the Philharmonia Orchestra on countless tours worldwide. In the past, Ashkenazy and the Philharmonia have developed landmark projects such as Voices of Revolution: Russia 1917 at Southbank Centre last season,Prokofiev and Shostakovich Under Stalin (a project which he also took to Cologne, New York, Vienna and Moscow) and Rachmaninoff Revisited(which was also presented in Paris).
In 2019, Vladimir Ashkenazy was named as the very first Conductor Laureate of Sydney Symphony Orchestra. This appointment has been made in recognition of his 50 year association with the Orchestra which began in 1969 and is an honour never before bestowed on any previous Sydney Symphony conductor. One of the most revered figures in classical music, the legendary pianist and veteran conductor accepts this position having entered his ninth decade. The young-at-heart musician who has a most impressive array of awards and recognitions to his name, as well as a vast discography both as a pianist and a conductor, Ashkenazy enjoys a career rich in achievement but remains, despite the prestige, a musician of the greatest dignity and unparalleled spiritual height. He has continued, for more than 60 years, to thrill audiences around the world and to shape profoundly many generations of musicians, maintaining an incredible level of trust and respect from them. A person of great warmth, humility and generosity, he has contributed immensely to the underprivileged and to humanity in general, reaching well beyond his contribution as a musician.
Ashkenazy maintains his devotion to the piano, these days mostly in the recording studio where he continues to build his extraordinarily comprehensive recording catalogue. This includes the Grammy award-winning album of Shostakovich’s Preludes and Fugues, Rautavaara’s Piano Concerto No.3 (a work which he commissioned), Bach's Wohltemperierte Klavier, Rachmaninov’s Transcriptions
and Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations, ‘Ashkenazy: 50 Years on Decca’ - a 50-CD box-set celebrating his long-standing relationship with the label, a milestone collection of Ashkenazy’s vast catalogue of Rachmaninov’s piano music, which also includes all of his recordings as a conductor of the composer’s orchestral music. 2017 saw the release of his latest album, Bach’s French Suites, and two new box sets - Vladimir Ashkenazy's Complete Concerto recordings and a personal selection of solo and chamber works.