Valeriy Sokolov

Valeriy Sokolov is in ever-increasing demand for his astonishingly mature interpretations of some of the most difficult works in the violin repertoire. Recent and forthcoming concert performances include with the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Orchestre National de France, the Orchestre de Paris, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestre National de Bordeaux Aquitaine and the NDR Radiophilharmonie. Highlights also include recitals at the Mariinsky Theatre, the Verbier and Colmar Festivals and at his own festival in Kharkov, Ukraine (now in its second year). His recording of concertos by Bartók and Tchaikovsky with the Tonhalle-Orchester in Zurich and David Zinman was released on EMI/Virgin in October 2011.

He has worked with such esteemed conductors as Vladimir Ashkenazy, Ivor Bolton, Andrei Boreiko, Susanna Mälkki, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Peter Oundjian, Vasily Petrenko, Kwamé Ryan, Hubert Soudant, and Yan Pascal Tortelier.

He has also appeared with orchestras including the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, the Mozarteum Orchestra, the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, the Cleveland Orchestra and the Hallé Orchestra as well as at the festivals in Aspen, St Denis and Gstaad. In February 2008 he gave the American premiere of Boris Tishchenko’s Concerto for Piano and Violin at Carnegie Hall.

Valeriy appears regularly at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris in recital and is a frequent guest in the Grands Interprètes series at the Auditorium de Lyon and at London’s Wigmore Hall. He has also performed at the Kissinger Sommer, Lockenhaus, Ravenna and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern festivals, and he recently gave his first performances at the Lincoln Center, the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, the Essen Philharmonie and in Vancouver and Hong Kong. A keen chamber musician, Valeriy enjoys regular collaborations with pianists Kathryn Stott, Evgeny Izotov and Igor Levit and cellists Leonid Gorokhov and Maximilian Hornung.

Exclusively signed with EMI/Virgin Classics, Sokolov is developing a strong and varied catalogue of recordings, releasing Enescu’s Sonata No 3 with pianist Svetlana Kosenko for them in 2009. His first concerto DVD was of the Sibelius Violin Concerto under Vladimir Ashkenazy and with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, while Bruno Monsaingeon’s film Un Violon dans l’âme (Natural Born Fiddler), a record of Valeriy’s recital in Toulouse in 2004, received much praise from the critics and continues to be frequently broadcast on ARTE TV.

Born in 1986 in Kharkov, Ukraine, Valeriy was awarded the Study Grant Prize at the International Pablo de Saraste Competition in Pamplona, Spain, in 1999 which provided him with a scholarship to study under Natalia Boyarskaya at the Yehudi Menuhin School in Great Britain.

In September 2005 Valeriy won the Grand Prix at the George Enescu International Competition with his performance of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto. He also won “Best Performance” award for Enescu’s Sonata No 3 as well as the Enescu Foundation Prize. He is generously supported by the Accenture Foundation as part of their scheme for young musicians.