Dmitry Sitkovetsky
Violin

A renaissance man and a magnetic creative force with a prolific career spanning more than four decades, Dmitry Sitkovetsky is celebrated globally as a violinist, conductor, creator, transcriber, and facilitator – and holds an undisputed and venerable position in musical society as a giant personality and educator.

Sitkovetsky’s celebrated career as a violinist is documented in an extensive discography of more than 40 recordings, reflecting the impressive breadth of his repertoire. His recording collaborators to date include such orchestras as the London Symphony, Philharmonia and Royal Concertgebouw orchestras, working with such legendary maestros as Colin Davis, Mariss Jansons, Neville Marriner and Yehudi Menuhin. In 2019, he celebrated the release of a new recital disc on the Melodia label, recorded with Tchaikovsky Competition-winner Lukas Geniušas – with a programme designed as an homage to the legendary duo of Kreisler & Rachmaninov. As soloist, he has performed with the world’s leading orchestras, including the Berlin Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Cleveland, LA Philharmonic, Leipzig Gewandhaus, New York Philharmonic, NHK Symphony, and Philadelphia orchestras, amongst others.

Sitkovetsky also enjoys a flourishing career as a conductor, having worked with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, Dallas Symphony, London Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Shanghai Symphony, and Tokyo Metropolitan orchestras, amongst others. In 1990, he founded the New European Strings Chamber Orchestra, bringing together the most distinguished string players from the top European ensembles, from both Russian and Western musical backgrounds. Since 2003, Sitkovetsky has served as the Music Director of the Greensboro Symphony Orchestra in North Carolina, to whom he has brought such soloists as Emanuel Ax, Yefim Bronfman, Garrick Ohlsson, and Pinchas Zukerman.

Given his unmatched ability to turn any project into a highly anticipated artistic event, Sitkovetsky has also been invited to create, develop and lead a number of festivals, including the Korsholm Music Festival in Finland, Seattle International Music Festival, Silk Route of Music in Azerbaijan and Festival del Sole in Tuscany. He was Artist in Residence of Vadim Repin’s Trans-Siberian Festival, with other festival visits of note include the Enescu, Ljubljana, and Verbier festivals.

Sitkovetsky is also in high demand as a jury member and educator. Recent jury roles have included the Indianapolis International Violin Competition, Concours Musical International de Montréal, XVI International Tchaikovsky Competition, and the Enescu Violin Competition, and the 2019/2020 season opened with the first of a series of teaching residencies at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. Additional highlights include Sitkovetsky’s début TEDx talk (The Power of Curiosity), the launch of his first book (Dmitry Sitkovetsky: Dialogues), and his interview series on Medici.tv (It Ain’t Necessarily So). Sitkovetsky’s name has also become synonymous with the art of transcription. His iconic orchestral and string trio versions of Bach’s Goldberg Variations have taken on a life of their own, enjoying regular performances and acclaimed recordings by many of the leading performers of today. He has also arranged over 50 works of major repertoire by Bartók, Beethoven, Brahms, Haydn, Schnittke, and Shostakovich. In 2015, he unveiled his transcription of Stravinsky’s Le Baiser de la Fée, premiered by Augustin Hadelich at Carnegie Hall. The 2017/2018 season saw the successful premières the multi-genre work Devil, Solider & Violin (inspired by Stravinsky’s A Soldier’s Tale), and 2018 saw the world première of his transcription of Sarasate’s Navarra Fantasy, commissioned by the Verbier Festival. This performance – marking the Festival’s 25^th anniversary – was broadcast live worldwide with an all-star line-up of musicians, including Lisa Batiashvili, Leonidas Kavakos, Mischa Maisky, Vadim Repin, Maxim Vengerov, Tabea Zimmermann, and Pinchas Zukerman – as well as, of course, Dmitry Sitkovetsky himself.