“Vesko Eschkenazy is a brilliant violinist”, heads De Telegraaf in November 2000, the largest daily in The Netherlands, after his interpretation of the First Violin Concerto by Szymanovski with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam. Eschkenazy has been its concertmaster since 1999.
EDUCATION
Born in Bulgaria in 1970 into a family of musicians, still a child, Vesko appeared as an orchestra leader. At 11 years old he became concertmaster of the Youth Philharmonic Orchestra of Prof. Vladi Simeonov. He is a graduate of the L. Pipkov National Music School in Sofia and of the P. Vladiguerov State Music Academy where he studied violin with Angelina Atanassova and Prof. Petar Hristoskov. In 1990, Vesko Eschkenazy left Bulgaria for London and completed a two year Masters Degree for solo performers with Prof. Ifra Neaman at the Guildhall School of Music.
AWARDS
Vesko Eschkenazy is a laureate of the International Violin Competition “Wieniawski” in (Poznan, Poland), the China International Violin Competition Beijing and the Carl Flesch Competition in London. He has recently been awarded Musician of the Year 2010 by the Bulgarian National Radio.
CONCERTS
Vesko Eschkenazy performs extensively in Europe, USA, South America, India, China and takes part in the festivals Midem in Cannes, Montpellier and Atlantic (France), the Music Festivals in Nantes and Rheims, the New Year Music Festival in Sofia and the Varna Summer and Apolonia Festival. He has performed as soloist with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, Monte Carlo Philharmonic, Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra, Mexico City Symphony, the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, Prague Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, and the Bach Chamber Orchestra Berlin, to name a few. He has taken part in concerts alongside Montserrat Caballé, Placido Domingo, Alexis Weissenberg, Yuri Bashmet, and Mstislav Rostropovich and has played under the direction of Mariss Jansons, Bernard Haitink, Riccardo Chailly, Kurt Masur, Sir Colin Davis, Carlo-Maria Giulini, Seiji Ozawa and Emil Tchakarov.
Some of his most outstanding performances were that of the Violin Concerto in A major by Mozart under Mariss Jansons, the Dvorak Violin Concerto under Sir Colin Davis, the Barber Violin Concerto under Jaap van Zweden and the Bruch Violin Concerto in G minor (January 2012) under Ankush Kumar Bahl (replacing Kurt Masur), all with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.
In 2009 Eschkenazy performed extensively with his brother, the conductor Martin Panteleev, with whom he performed the Dvorak Violin Concerto with the Orkest van het Oosten, Mozart’s A major Concerto with the Concertgebouw Chamber Orchestra and many other works. The two brothers accomplished a tour to Sofia and Istanbul with the Concertgebouw Chamber Orchestra in the same year.
Vesko Eschkenazy started the 2010/2011 season with an open air performance in the very centre of Sofia with the Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra gathering the largest audience for classical concert ever. In the same season he was Artist in Residence in the Bulgaria Hall in Sofia with four recitals and a performance of the Bruch Violin Concerto in G minor with the Sofia Philharmonic.
RECORDINGS
Vesko Eschkenazy records for Pentatone Classics. His recording with the Concertgebouw Chamber Orchestra of concertos by Mozart, Mendelssohn and Schubert (Rondo) received the highest appraisal of the critics. Luister Magazine (Holland) remarks: “Vesko Eschkenazy writes history with his new super recording for the Pentatone Classics of the violin concertos by Mozart and Mendelssohn”. Michael Liebovitz (USA Classics Today) adds: “He tackles Mozart with brilliance; Schubert with a stable phrasing [..]. His warm, well rounded tone competes with any other recording of a famous violinist [..]” A recording of Bach Concertos has been released in November 2012.
CHAMBER MUSIC
Vesko Eschkenazy is also a beloved chamber musician. In 1995 he joined the pianist Ludmil Angelov to perform sonata duos. They have given a large number of concerts in Europe. Exceptionally warmly accepted were those by the Spanish audiences in the cities of Gijon, Toledo and Madrid: in four successive evenings, Eschkenazy and Angelov performed the complete Mozart sonatas for violin and piano. Their joint Russian Music CD has been released by the Gega New Music House. Their second album “The fascinating George Gershwin” has been released by Pentatone Classics. In October 2007 the musicians gave a recital in a sold-out Bulgaria Hall in Sofia, broadcast live by Bulgarian national television.
In 2012/2013 Vesko Eschkenazy will also form a duo with pianist Marietta Petkova.
VIOLIN
Vesko Eschkenazy is playing a Guarneri del Gesu violin from 1741, the property of an anonymous sponsor in The Netherlands.