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Aleksey Igudesman is best known as a violinist, but has also established himself as a composer, conductor and actor.
Aleksey was born in St Petersburg, Russia. At the age of twelve he was accepted to the prestigious Yehudi Menuhin School in England. From 1989 to 1998 he studied violin with Boris Kuschnir at the Vienna Conservatory.
Igudesman’s music is published by Universal Edition and includes Style Workout, two books of duets for young musicians called The Catscratchbook and Pigs Can Fly, as well as the violin duet series Klezmer & More, Celtic & More and Latin & More. He has published several violin sonatas, the second dedicated to Julian Rachlin and the third to Viktoria Mullova.
Aleksey Igudesman’s compositions have been performed by internationally renowned soloists, ensembles and orchestras. As both solo violinist and conductor, he has performed his own works with Kremerata Baltica, Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, Belgrade Symphony Orchestra, Symphony Orchestra Vorarlberg, Tonkünstler Orchestra, Virtuosi Italiani, Cameratea Ducale, among other orchestras.
In Violins of the World, Igudesman performed his violin duets with Gidon Kremer, Julian Rachlin, Janine Jansen, Pavel Vernikov and Alexandra Soumm. This project also featured Igudesman’s poetry, recited by Sir Roger Moore.
With his internationally acclaimed string trio, Triology, he has given concerts all over the world and recorded several CDs for Sony/BMG. Currently Igudesman is performing with his duo IGUDESMAN & JOO as a soloist, conductor and chamber musician.
Igudesman writes, arranges and records film music, often collaborating with the Academy Award winning film composer, Hans Zimmer. Zimmer has invited him to compose, arrange and play on the soundtrack of the movies The Road to El Dorado, Spanglish and most recently Sherlock Holmes, which was nominated for the Oscar for best soundtrack of 2010. Several new collaborations with Hans Zimmer are in the works.
In cooperation with the violinist, Sebastian Gürtler, Aleksey Igudesman has created The Cyber Conductor for two violins and symphony orchestra.
His future projects include Igudesman’s Russian Nights in the Wellenklänge Festival in Austria, where he will be joined by R. Hyung-ki Joo, Itamar Golan, Polina Leschenko, Julian Rachlin, Viktoria Mullova and others in performing Russian music along with his own compositions. Mullova and Leschenko will premiere his 3rd violin sonata.
In 2010 Igudesman conducted the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra in a program of Strauss, Beethoven and his own works, including the world premiere of his Waltz of the World. For the festival Julian Rachlin & Friends, Igudesman is putting together a special project called The Music Critic, with John Malkovich as the Narrator.
IGUDESMAN & JOO
In 2004 Aleksey Igudesman founded IGUDESMAN & JOO with the internationally acclaimed pianist, Richard Hyung-ki Joo. Their show A Little Nightmare Music has received rapturous praise by critics and audiences alike. It has taken them all over the world and to countless prestigious venues, such as the Verbier Festival, the Bergen Festival, the Menuhin Festival in Gstaat, Lockenhaus and the Saratoga Festival.
On YouTube their clips have had over 20 million viewings to date. Their project with Gidon Kremer and Kremerata Baltica, called Being Gidon Kremer, premiered in 2008 and was performed in Schleswig Holstein and Rheingau Festival, as well as in Asia, Europe and Russia.
In 2009 IGUDESMAN & JOO toured Germany, Holland and Belgium as part of the Night of the Proms, appearing in front of half a million people, alongside rock legends such as Simple Minds, Kim Wilde, Sinead O’Connor, Tears for Fears, 10CC, Midge Ure from Ultravox, Dennis de Young from STYX and Robin Gibb from the BeeGees.
IGUDESMAN & JOO also have a show which they do with symphony and chamber orchestras, called “A BIG Nightmare Music”. They are currently writing on a TV series, so stay tuned!
He sometimes uses an electric Violin by Ned Steinberger – NS Design. Aleksey Igudesman plays a Santo Serafin 1717 violin, kindly loaned to him by ERSTE BANK.