50th Anniversary of David Oistrakh's London Debut

Barbican Centre

Igor & Valery Oistrakh
Philharmonia Orchestra
Marco Parisotto: Conductor

Bach - Concerto for 2 violins in D minor
Mendelssohn - Violin Concerto in E minor Igor Oistrakh
Beethoven - Violin Concerto in D Valery Oistrakh

Fifty years ago, the legendary Russian violinist David Oistrakh gave his first London concert at the Royal Albert Hall. The atmosphere in the five thousand strong audience was electric and the concert confirmed David Oistrakh as one of the world's greatest violinists.

His son Igor had performed in a sensational concert at the Royal Albert Hall a year earlier, which ushered in a new era in the history of Anglo-Soviet cultural exchange. From then on, David and Igor would go on to captivate audiences the world over with their playing, both separately and together. When David Oistrakh died in 1974, Igor continued the family tradition by performing together with his gifted young son, Valery who had studied with his celebrated grandfather and was himself now a rising star.

In a concert which includes three great masterpieces of the violin repertoire, Igor and Valery Oistrakh will celebrate that first unforgettable debut fifty years ago in a concert with the Philharmonia Orchestra under conductor Marco Parisotto, Principal Conductor of the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra.

Igor Oistrakh

Igor Oistrakh was born in Odessa in 1931 and studied with his father, David Oistrakh. In 1949 he won first prize at the Budapest International Competition and, three year later, at the Wieniawski International Competition. He has toured extensively throughout the USA, Europe, the former USSR, Canada, South America, Japan and Australia.

Igor Oistrakh has appeared with the world's greatest orchestras under Klemperer, Reiner, von Karajan, Ormandy, Giulini, Solti, Maazel, Ozawa, Rozhdestvensky and David Oistrakh amongst others. He also performed together with Pablo Casals and Yehudi Menuhin. For 27 years, he played in a unique duo with his father, making several recordings together. Following the death of his father in 1974, the family tradition continued with his son, Valery Oistrakh.

Since 1968, Igor Oistrakh has conducted chamber and symphony orchestras as well as performing as a viola player. He has recorded for EMI, DG, Decca, RCA, Collins, Melodia and Arts and Electronics. He performs together with his wife, the pianist Natalia Zertsalova and together they have been awarded honorary membership of the Beethoven Society in Bonn for their recording of the complete Beethoven Sonatas. They were also awarded the Wiener Flotenuhr by the Vienna Mozart Academy for their recording of the complete Mozart Violin Sonatas.

Awards and appointments include Fellow of the Royal College of Music, the title People's Artist of the USSR, Presidency of the Russian section of the European String Teachers Association, Honorary Member of the Ysaÿe Foundation, President of the César Franck Foundation in Belgium and jury membership of prestigious violin competitions such as the Tchaikovsky, Queen Elizabeth, Wieniawski and Carl Flesch competitions. Since 1996, he has held the position of Professor at the Royal Conservatory in Brussels.

Valery Oistrakh

Valery Oistrakh represents the third generation of the eminent family of violinists headed by his grandfather David and his father Igor.

He took his first violin lessons from his grandfather, continuing his studies at the prestigious Central School of Music in Moscow and, subsequently, at the Gnessin School of Music. He completed his studies in Germany under Professor Zakhar Bron.

A prize-winner at several international violin competitions, Valery Oistrakh gave his first public performance at the age of fourteen, playing duos with his father. He has since performed throughout the USA, Canada, Australia, the former USSR and Europe. He has played as a soloist with many of the world's leading orchestras including the Moscow Philharmonic and Leningrad Philharmonic, the Berlin Symphony, the City of London Symphony, the Leipzig Gewandhaus and the Sidney Symphony Orchestra under the baton of conductors such as Kurt Masur and Gennadi Rozhdestvensky. He is the leader of the Oistrakh Chamber Philharmonic

Orchestra and of the Oistrakh Ensemble

Valery Oistrakh is a dedicated teacher. He is a professor at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels, the Chapelle Musicale Reine Elisabeth, the International Summer Academy of Belgium and also gives masterclasses in Austria, Belgium, Germany, Italy and Japan.

Marco Parisotto - Conductor

In 2000, Marco Parisotto was appointed Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, the first foreigner to hold this position in the history of the People's Republic of China.

Born in Montreal, Marco Parisotto studied violin and piano before training as a conductor under such eminent maestros as Leonard Bernstein, Carlo Maria Giulini, Leonard Slatkin and Yuri Temirkanov. He has been a prizewinner at many international competitions including the Tokyo International, Constantin Silvestri and Antonio Pedrotti competitions.

Marco Parisotto has recorded for the Rosa Classic label and has taken part in numerous live international radio and television broadcasts. Apart from his duties in Shanghai, he is also Music Director of the Oshawa-Durham Symphony Orchestra in Canada and Principal Guest Conductor of the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Northern Mexico.