Vladimir Ashkenazy facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Vladimir Davidovich Ashkenazy
Влади́мир Дави́дович Ашкена́зи
Vladimir Ashkenazy in 2007
Born	(1937-07-06) July 6, 1937 (age 88) Gorky, Soviet Union
Occupation	Pianist, chamber music performer, conductor
Parents	David Ashkenazi (composer) (father) Yevstolia Grigorievna (mother)
Awards	Grammy Awards (7 times) Order of the Falcon (Iceland)

Ashkenazy with his wife Þórunn and eldest son Vladimir in 1963

Vladimir Davidovich Ashkenazy (Russian: Влади́мир Дави́дович Ашкена́зи; born on July 6, 1937) is a famous musician. He was born in the Soviet Union and later became an Icelandic citizen. He is known as a brilliant pianist, a performer of chamber music (music for small groups of instruments), and a conductor.

Ashkenazy has worked with many well-known orchestras and solo artists. He has also recorded a huge collection of classical and romantic music. His recordings have won him seven Grammy Awards and Iceland's special award, the Order of the Falcon.

Early Life and Musical Training

Vladimir Ashkenazy was born in Gorky, Soviet Union. This city is now called Nizhny Novgorod in Russia. His father, David Ashkenazi, was a pianist and composer. His mother, Yevstolia Grigorievna, was an actress.

Vladimir started playing the piano when he was just six years old. By age eight, he was accepted into the Central Music School. There, he studied with a teacher named Anaida Sumbatyan.

Later, Ashkenazy attended the Moscow Conservatory, a famous music school. He studied with great teachers like Lev Oborin. He quickly showed his talent in piano competitions:

• In 1955, he won second prize at the V International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw.
• In 1956, he won first prize at the Queen Elisabeth Music Competition in Brussels.
• In 1962, he shared first prize at the International Tchaikovsky Competition with British pianist John Ogdon.

A Career in Music

Vladimir Ashkenazy has recorded many different piano pieces. These include solo works and concertos (pieces for a solo instrument with an orchestra).

Famous Piano Recordings

His solo piano recordings include:

• The Well-Tempered Clavier and French Suites by Bach.
• 24 Preludes and Fugues by Shostakovich.
• All the sonatas by Beethoven and Scriabin.
• All the piano works by Rachmaninoff and Chopin.
• Almost all the piano works by Schumann.

His concerto recordings include:

• All the piano concertos by Mozart. He even conducted the Philharmonia Orchestra from the keyboard!
• Three full sets of Beethoven's five piano concertos. He recorded these with different orchestras and conductors, including Georg Solti and Zubin Mehta.
• Concertos by Brahms, Bartók, and Prokofiev.
• Two full sets of Rachmaninoff's concertos.

When performing, Ashkenazy was known for wearing a white turtleneck instead of a formal shirt and tie. He would also run onto and off the stage! He has also played and recorded chamber music. He made famous recordings of Beethoven's complete violin sonatas with Itzhak Perlman. He also recorded cello sonatas with Lynn Harrell and piano trios with Harrell and Perlman.

Becoming a Conductor

Later in his career, Ashkenazy also became a conductor. He led many famous orchestras around the world.

• In Europe, he was the main conductor of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra from 1987 to 1994.
• He was also the Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin from 1989 to 1999.
• He led the Czech Philharmonic from 1998 to 2003.
• He is still a conductor laureate (an honored former conductor) of the Philharmonia Orchestra and the Iceland Symphony Orchestra.
• He is also the music director of the European Union Youth Orchestra.

In July 2013, he became the director of the Accademia Pianistica Internazionale di Imola, a piano academy. As a conductor, he has recorded complete sets of symphonies by Sibelius and Rachmaninoff. He has also recorded orchestral works by Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Scriabin, Richard Strauss, Stravinsky, Beethoven, and Tchaikovsky.

Outside of Europe, Ashkenazy was the music director of the NHK Symphony Orchestra in Japan from 2004 to 2007. He was also the chief conductor of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in Australia from 2009 to 2013.

Ashkenazy has recorded for Decca Records since 1963. In 2013, Decca celebrated his 50th anniversary with a special box set of his recordings. In 2017, for his 80th birthday, Decca released more collections of his music. He has also appeared in films about music by Christopher Nupen. He even created his own orchestral version of Modest Mussorgsky's piano piece Pictures at an Exhibition in 1982. A biography about him, 'Beyond Frontiers', has also been published.

On January 17, 2020, it was announced that Ashkenazy would retire from public performances.

Personal Life

Ashkenazy in 1984

In 1961, Vladimir Ashkenazy married Þórunn Jóhannsdóttir, who was from Iceland. She also studied piano at the Moscow Conservatory.

In 1963, Ashkenazy decided to leave the Soviet Union permanently. He and his wife moved to London, England, where his wife's parents lived.

In 1968, the couple moved to Iceland. In 1972, Ashkenazy became an Icelandic citizen. He helped start the Reykjavík Arts Festival in 1970 and is still its Honorary President. In 1978, the family, with their four children, moved to Lucerne, Switzerland. Their fifth child was born there in 1979.

His oldest son, Vladimir (who goes by 'Vovka'), is also a pianist and a teacher. His second son, Dimitri, is a clarinet player.

Awards and Recognition

Vladimir Ashkenazy has received many awards for his musical achievements. He won seven Grammy Awards from 21 nominations!

Competition Prizes

• 1955: Second prize at the V International Chopin Piano Competition, Warsaw.
• 1956: First prize at the Queen Elisabeth Music Competition for piano, Brussels.
• 1962: Shared first prize at the International Tchaikovsky Competition, Moscow.

Other Honors

• 2000: Hanno R. Ellenbogen Citizenship Award, with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra.
• He is the current president of the Rachmaninoff Society.
• 2019: Elgar Medal.
• 2014: Sergei Rachmaninov International Award.

Grammy Awards

• 1974: For Beethoven: The Piano Concertos (with Sir Georg Solti and Chicago Symphony Orchestra).
• 1979: For Beethoven: Sonatas for Violin and Piano (with Itzhak Perlman).
• 1982: For Tchaikovsky: Piano Trio in A minor (with Itzhak Perlman and Lynn Harrell).
• 1988: For Beethoven: The Complete Piano Trios (with Itzhak Perlman and Lynn Harrell).
• 1986: For Ravel: Gaspard de la nuit; Pavane pour une infante défunte; Valses nobles et sentimentales.
• 2000: For Shostakovich: 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87.

ARIA Music Awards

The ARIA Music Awards are annual awards in Australia for music.

What Critics Say

In 2018, The Guardian newspaper wrote that Ashkenazy conducted pieces by Prokofiev and Glière as if he was "born to do it." This was during a concert series that explored music related to the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917.

See also

In Spanish: Vladímir Ashkenazi para niños