Maxim Vengerov

Maxim Vengerov

Maxim Vengerov (born August 20, 1974 in Novosibirsk) is a virtuoso Russian Grammy Award–winning violinist.

Vengerov was five when he received his first violin lessons from Galina Turtschaninova and later at the Royal Academy of Music in London (Junior Department). He later studied with the legendary violin teacher Zakhar Bron and was still only ten when he won the Junior Wieniawski Competition in Poland. Recital engagements in Moscow and Leningrad (St.Petersburg) followed, and he was soon appearing as concert soloist with such well-known orchestras as the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the BBC Philharmonic, the Singapore Symphony Orchestra and the USSR State Symphony Orchestra.

In 1995 his recording of the Prokofiev and Shostakovich violin concertos won Gramophone Awards in the "Best Record of the year" and the "Best Concerto Recording" categories, later also garnering two Grammy nominations. His 1997 recording The Road I Travel chronicles some of his best work to date, with one new track, the famous "Méditation" from Massenet's Thaïs.

1997 thrust Vengerov even further into the public spotlight: his rousing performance at the Hollywood Bowl in July was followed by another virtuoso performance in September, when Vengerov took the stage at the season opening of the New York Philharmonic with Maestro Kurt Masur. 1997 also marked the release of the follow-up to the first, and critically-acclaimed, Prokofiev and Shostakovich violin concertos, recorded with legendary conductor Mstislav Rostropovich.

Vengerov toured with English harpsichordist Trevor Pinnock in 2000, taking up the baroque violin for the first time while Pinnock learnt to play the modern Steinway grand piano. These revolutionary concerts consisted of a first half of harpsichord and baroque violin, followed by a second half of piano and modern violin.[1] He has recently widened his musical experience further by taking up the viola.

He is no longer a professor of viola at the University of Dance Saarland, Germany, but was appointed professor at the Royal Academy of Music in London in 2005.

Early life

Maxim’s Parents, Birth and Early Childhood

Maxim’s mother, Larissa, and father, Aleksandr, are both musicians. His father was the first oboist in the Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra in Novosibirsk, the capital of the Western Siberia. His mother was the director of a children’s orphanage but she was also a singer and made music a significant part of the children’s lives there, mainly through the choir she ran for them. She was lauded throughout Russia for the remarkable work she did at the orphanage and admired for her ability to wheedle funds and support from what seemed to be impossible sources. A Russian video was made about her impact on so many young lives.

Maxim Vengerov was born into this musical family near Novosibirsk, on August 20th 1974.

Maxim spent his early childhood in Novosibirsk surrounded by music, particularly by singing. His mother was keen for him to be a singer or a conductor, or perhaps an athlete such as a weight-lifter. When Maxim was about three years old he went to hear his father’s orchestra play, only to be very peeved to find out that he could not see his father, as he was playing his oboe hidden behind the string section. Maxim decided at that moment that he wanted to learn the violin, partly because he wanted to be seen but also that it was the nearest instrument to his mother’s voice. With his father’s encouragement, the following year when he was four Maxim began lessons on the violin. From the very first moment when he put bow to string, he made a musical sound - none of the usual squeaks and squawks with which beginners usually punish those around them! Maxim says it was because he had the sound of his mother’s voice in his head and that was what he tried to reproduce. He made astonishing progress and at the age of five his mother took him to a famous teacher, Galina Turtschaninova.

Hard Work, Sacrifices and Rapid Progress

Maxim has emphasised that not all Siberia, and certainly not Novosibirsk, was the cultural desert that many people in the West or even in Moscow believe it to be. On the contrary, during the Second World War, many musicians and other artists were sent there for protection. The city is large; it has a population of 1.5 million and it has to this day a thriving music community with good performers and teachers.

http://www.allsiberia.com/novosibirsk/ Galina Turtschaninova was one of these well known teachers. In the documentary about Maxim ‘Playing by Heart’ she comes across as a formidable teacher who is primarily concerned with the development of musical excellence. Maxim, as a five year old, certainly found her stern initially and for his first few lessons did not like her. His mother arrived with him without an appointment but Galina Turtschaninova mistook him for another child who was being sent to her. So she admitted them both and commented on Maxim’s large and strong hands (as an adult they are not large), upon which Maxim punched her in the stomach, presumably to prove the point she was making.

Things got worse, as Maxim felt intimidated by her and by the playing of an older pupil - and consequently refused to play in his lessons. Then, because his mother burst into tears during the fifth lesson in which he had failed to produce so much as a single note, Maxim then proceeded to play no fewer than seventeen pieces from memory - he had been practicing hard in the meantime. Galina Turtschaninova was astounded and said that here was a great violinist in the making. From that moment they were able to work together. She is now a great friend of Maxim’s and has traveled across the world to be at some of Maxim’s adult concerts.

The regime that Maxim was put through from that time as a young child sounds worse than daunting for all concerned. As soon as Maxim arrived home from school he would go to bed until his mother came home from work, needing to catch up on his sleep rather than play with his friends; so he missed the opportunity to play with his friends and be the goal keeper in ice-hockey matches. Maxim's practice began at about 7.00 to 8.00 pm for seven to eight hours. Maxim has been asked how this was managed - and his reply was that in the first place he loved his mother very much and would do anything for her. Secondly, she knew his ‘keys’ (in a motivational sense) and would encourage him by allowing him to ride his tricycle after he had finished his practice - in the middle of the night, much to the neighbors' concern. She would also tempt him with longer term goals such as the possibility of buying a car when he was older. He certainly did not imagine that he would ever own a Lexus. The family was poor and understandably such temptations acted as strong incentives for him. In addition, at the age of five, Maxim played his first concert and was totally inspired by the applause and wished it would never stop. To keep experiencing this again and again was in itself a strong reward for him. He was told that he had talent - and that he had therefore to practice three to ten times as hard as other children.

Maxim has vivid memories of this time, such as when his father managed with the help of friends to bring a grand piano back to their small basement home. There was no room for it, so a hole was knocked through the living room to the kitchen to accommodate it and it was then also used as the kitchen table where his mother prepared all the food. He also remembers the joy of a smuggled Michael Jackson tape, but also the hardships of food rationing and his family queuing for three to fours hours for food and having to practice with gloves on because of the intense cold in winter. Life was not easy for the Vengerov's. Devotion of time and patient effort from family and teachers and having to find extra expenses for tuition, instruments, music, travel and concert clothes were just some of the costs. With such determination to succeed must come a certain obstinacy and Maxim was, by his own account, no exception to this. He did rebel at times, and had his naughty moments, such as breaking his bow in a temper.

But Maxim was not brought up in a rarefied atmosphere; he was involved with his mother’s work in the orphanage and he played and sang with the children there. His family had to make sacrifices to nurture this exceptional talent in difficult circumstances; but above all they seemed determined that he should develop as a caring person and to have interests beyond music. As an adult Maxim has many enthusiasms, though he lacks the time to pursue them as he would like. He was brought up to care for those around him, particularly those less fortunate than himself. This concern for others has grown over the years and is represented by his much beloved work with UNICEF and his frequent fundraising concerts for charities. In the documentary ‘Playing by Heart’ Larissa said that she was much more concerned that Maxim should be a good person rather than a good musician.

The Time in Moscow

When he was about seven Maxim had an encounter, the effect of which has remained with him to this day. After a recital he played in Moscow, a very old man approached him and said: 'Listen and pay attention to what I say. Stay this way all your life. Don't get spoiled. You are no longer a prodigy; you are a mature musician. You are so musical that you don't even have to think about the music. Your technique is so good that you just play what you feel.'

Maxim went to Moscow at this time with his grandparents and teacher to study at The Central Special Music School, a specialist school affiliated with the Tschaikovsky Conservatory. The stay there of about three years must have been particularly hard for the whole family; they had very little money and Maxim and his grandparents were staying in Moscow illegally. They were visited several times by the Secret Police. At one time they were served with a 24 hours notice of eviction and had to pretend that they were there for medical treatment and other excuses. His mother remembers that during this time Maxim showed an early talent for teaching. He had to study normal school subjects and to take the examinations, but he was able to concentrate on his music studies. He seemed to be very philosophical about the difficulties these caused him such as not being able to see his friends very often – a continuing problem for him throughout his life. Maxim is a very sociable person and values friendships highly, but at an early age he appeared to have realised he had to make sacrifices in order to develop his talent.

By the time Maxim was eight his technique was of a professional standard and he was telling his teacher that pieces like Lalo’s Symphonie Espagnol were too easy for him (which he now finds amusing). As an adult Maxim maintains that it was this early intensive learning which enabled him to acquire such a formidable technique. The Americans call a similar immersion system for accelerating early learning ‘hot-housing’, but often the enhancement is superficial and temporary, and personality development can be impaired. That this was avoided with Maxim was due to the care his family and teachers took to prevent it. But importantly, Maxim also had exceptional musical talent as well; the films made of him at about ten years old demonstrate his mature musicianship. His remarkable memory had also been established by this time. He appears to be able to commit pieces to memory quickly no matter how complex they are, and even today when playing chamber music, apparently has the music in front of him solely because the other players do.

When Maxim was ten, his grandfather became ill and Maxim and his grandparents returned to Novosibirsk where Maxim now studied with Zakhar Bron, a legendary teacher who has had other pupils who have become top performers. Vadim Repin was one of these, three years older than Maxim and from Novosibirsk.

Zakhar Bron concentrated on many aspects of Maxim’s playing, including performance skills, and took him to new levels of interpretation. Like Galina Turtschaninova, Zakhar Bron expects the highest level of commitment from his students, and quick learning of new repertoire, no matter how difficult; for example, Maxim was told to learn a Paganini Concerto in one week and to perform it with an orchestra.

Somehow money was found for him to enter the Junior Wieniawski Competition in Poland at the age of ten, which he won. His fellow pupil, Vadim Repin, had won this three years previously at the age of eleven. At this stage Maxim started to become a little known to the world outside Russia and the concert engagements increased within Russia.

In 1985 when he was eleven years old Maxim played at the opening concert of the Eighth Tchaikovsky competition. He was not allowed to compete as he was under age, but he played at the opening concert to much acclaim.

When he was twelve Maxim was giving concerts in Europe and even further afield in Japan. The following year when Maxim was about thirteen years old, Bron left Russia to teach at the Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London. Maxim and his mother (having relinquished her work at the orphanage) followed him there, but they only stayed for a short time before Bron went to Lubeck in Germany to open a school there - so Maxim and Larissa moved again!

For the next few years the Vengerovs continued to live with difficulties. Maxim gave lessons in order to help keep the family. His love for teaching has remained with him, and his commitment to it has increased, though not in order to earn his bread and butter these days! There was an incident when Maxim broke his last E string during the rehearsal, didn’t have a spare for the evening concert and asked for strings ‘ on hock’ until after the performance when he would be paid. The luthier, having heard Maxim earlier that day testing out violins in the shop and being very impressed by his playing, waived the payment for the strings.

One of the great advantages for Maxim in going to London and Germany was not only being exposed to the musical and other influences of Europe, but also that he had an opportunity to develop the linguistic abilities which are so essential to top performers as they travel across the world. His good ‘ear’ and aural memory enabled him to learn fluent German and English (which has been developing over the years). He had much early training in becoming the citizen of the world that he is now.

Life as a virtuoso

Out of Russia - New Influences- Violins and Recordings.

In the summer of 1989 Maxim gave a recital at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam which received tremendous acclaim. His international fame was given an even greater boost when, a year later, he won the Carl Flesch International Violin Competition in London (First Prize, Interpretation Prize AND the Audience Prize and two others). As one BBC announcer put it, he ‘ransacked the prize cupboard’. Maxim was now acknowledged as a mature player at the top of his profession at the age of fifteen. He won a recording contract with Warner/ Teldec and although he had released a few earlier recordings in Russia and the very early Biddulph recording, this was the real start of his recording career.

Having studied with Bron for five and a half years, Maxim now decided to stop the lessons, saying ‘I wanted to work on my own and find out what music really meant to me and whether I wanted to continue’. He was working with conductors like Barenboim, Rostropovich, Abbado, and Giulini who could offer essential guidance for his progress.

Maxim, his parents and his maternal grandparents now moved from the USSR to Israel; eventually establishing a home about three hours’ drive from Tel Aviv. He took Israeli citizenship. His father continued his profession as an orchestral oboist in Israel. It wasn’t long before the Israeli authorities realised that Maxim was of an age to do National Service and called him up to train in the Israeli army. Maxim couldn’t get out of this official duty at first, even though many prestigious friends (such as Zubin Mehta) lobbied the government for his exemption. He was forced to serve and was training to be a parachutist, but only for a few days before the government relented, finally being convinced that he would serve the State of Israel better with his violin than with a gun or a parachute.

During the next two years Maxim gave recitals in such places as Tokyo, London, Salzburg, and toured with the Israel Philharmonic with Mehta across America. Mehta recalls that at that time Maxim had not got a good violin, only the one he described as ‘a box he brought with him out of Siberia’. He played in Berlin with the Berlin Philharmonic and Abbado, and at the BBC proms.

Maxim also had the opportunity to travel to the USA. He taught his first masterclass at UCLA in Los Angeles at the age of only sixteen, a practice which he continues to pursue whenever he can. Whilst in the US he played with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Daniel Barenboim, who has been an influence on his continuing musical development to such an extent the Maxim regards him as his ‘musical uncle’; Rostropovich is his ‘musical grandfather’. In the documentary made about Maxim (Playing by Heart) Barenboim remembered with great affection the time the young sixteen year old first played for him. The Tchaikovsky, he recalled, was ‘good, but nothing special’ but he saw a great maturity for someone of Maxim’s years when he then played Bach. The great friendship began. They continue to meet and work together, both having tremendous respect for each other.

Maxim reminisced in the documentary about the time he went to Chicago to play the Sibelius violin concerto with Barenboim and the CSO (and subsequently to record it along with the Nielsen). He had played the concerto many times before and considered he knew it, but Barenboim was disappointed and he said that there was something missing and sent him away to look at the score again. Maxim stayed up all night in his hotel room studying the score and by the following day a new interpretation had been created. Both Barenboim and Maxim were pleased, Maxim thanking Barenboim for his help in enabling him to discover the music in the concerto. Barenboim replied that he did for it himself. Very important elements of Maxim’s success are that he is always willing to learn from others and from the music itself. He always studies the full score (learning all parts for the other instruments) and believes that knowledge of the context of the composition is essential to understanding the music fully.

In 1992/3 he toured France, Japan and America, and appeared again in Berlin, London (including another Prom), Paris and Frankfurt. Maxim’s gypsy life style (his description) - of dashing across continents, of spending most his life in aeroplanes, hotel rooms and concert halls, and living out of suitcases - was now established. Larissa accompanied him everywhere during these early years of touring as a concert artist and his father also whenever he was able.

In 1993 the Hennessey organisation in France loaned Maxim a Stradivarius violin, the ‘Reynier’. Maxim was very happy to have the use of a ‘Strad’ again (he had been loaned one for a time when he was in Russia) and was able to use it on the recording of the Bruch and Mendelssohn concerti with Kurt Masur and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra.

In 1994 he recorded the first Shostakovich and Prokofiev violin concerti with the London Symphony Orchestra and Mstislav Rostropovich and so cemented his special relationship with his ‘Musical Grandfather’. Rostropovich brought his personal knowledge of the two composers to the recording and Maxim recalls that they all felt that something special happened in this recording session. The disc went on to receive the Gramophone award for ‘Best Record of the Year’ and ‘Best Concerto Recordings’, two Grammy nominations and an Edison award.

The relationship with Rostropovich has continued and deepened, and their respect and great fondness for each other are always apparent at any performance where they perform together. They continue to collaborate not only in concerti but also in chamber music, where their interpretation of Shostakovich is always particularly special.

Later recording collaborations include the second concerti by Shostakovich and Prokofiev, the Stravinsky and Shchedrin concerti, and the Britten Violin Concerto and Walton Viola Concerto.

In 1995 the Stradivari society in Chicago lent Maxim the ‘Keisewetter Stradivarius. He used this violin until April 1998. The ‘Kreutzer’ Stradivarius was then purchased on his behalf from the auctioneers, Christies in London. This sale still holds the record price for a violin sold at auction at £947,500. (Stradivari rarely appear in auction rooms). Maxim continues to thank his dear friend Yoko Ceschina in all his programme notes for her generosity in enabling him to buy this much loved violin.

An Envoy for UNICEF

In 1997 Maxim was appointed UNICEF honorary envoy for music, a post he still holds. He takes his work with UNICEF very seriously and sees this as a continuation of a family tradition of caring for under privileged children. He has been involved in many projects from war refugees to children suffering from AIDS and with each project he brings the power of his music to help to comfort and increase the potential of the children. He says ‘I understood what miracles you can bring to children with music; this is a universal language that everyone understands. It goes from heart to heart’. Each of these projects leaves him emotionally moved; he feels that he can contribute something worthwhile.

This extract gives an example of the impact of Maxim’s UNICEF involvement:

Vengerov told of a visit to Uganda where he came across children who had been kidnapped at the age of six and made to fight in the war in Sudan. “By 11-years-old they were already killing people. Some of them even killed their own parents. But during the workshop their faces transformed as we danced. They had so much joy through the music." When he left the centre one of the psychologists told him that what Vengerov had achieved in a few hours, they could not do with therapy in a month. Heal through music, Sapc News South Africa:November 17, 2003

Maxim also regularly gives very many benefit concerts for many worthy causes, giving his services free.

Conducting

In 1998 Maxim decided to expand his musical prowess and studied conducting with Vag Papian, the Armenian conductor who was living and working in Israel, and who later accompanied him in many recitals and chamber music concerts. Maxim feels that conducting has helped his performing too. ‘Studying conducting has broadened my outlook. I no longer see music only through a violinist’s eyes. Secondly, it has helped me to deal with the loneliness of being a soloist’. He has conducted Mozart symphonies no 21 (G minor) and no 41 (The Jupiter), but he says he is ‘not yet coming with the Verdi operas!’ and has no intention at the present time of becoming a full-time conductor – much to the relief of all those who love his violin playing so much.

Baroque Style

Maxim and Trevor Pinnock, one of the world's leading harpsichordists, had first met when Maxim was sixteen; they kept in touch and talked about working together, Pinnock insisting that Maxim should try out period instrument style.

Having now got his own Stradivarius violin Maxim decided to have his old friend, the violin he had owned since he was fourteen, retro-fitted to its original Baroque specifications. It had been thought to be by an unknown Italian maker and a very good violin (despite being described as a ‘box’ by Mehta!). During the conversion it was discovered by the luthier, Nahum Tukh, to be a violin made by Landolfi. A long search for a suitable baroque bow eventually reaped results and Maxim started to relearn the art of playing the baroque violin. He describes this as starting all over again, but the results have impacted tremendously on his playing. ‘I always loved Bach, but before taking up the Baroque violin I simply could not relate physically to the music…..When I took up the Baroque violin I felt for the first time that I could achieve the Bach playing that I heard in my imagination’.

Working with Pinnock resulted in a collaboration for the millennium: a concert tour of Europe. Maxim agreed to play the baroque violin if Pinnock would play piano in the second half of the concert. In Maxim’s words ‘It’s a challenge for both of us, we both take risks. I take as much advice from him as possible as there is always a lot to learn from musicians with different backgrounds. [You gain] from experience you have never been in touch with’.

Recent Times

Teaching

In May 2000, the relationship with Teldec ended when Maxim signed an exclusive recording contract with EMI.

In September, he became Professor of Violin at Saarbrucken University (Hochsdule des Saarlandes), Germany, succeeding Valerij Klimov. From then until summer 2005 he had a regular teaching commitment, taking one week regularly from performing to be with his students – having cut his concerts per year from approximately 130 to 55 (except for 2004 when it was nearly 100). This is a tremendous obligation as not only does he spend seven or eight hours a day teaching during that time, but also he has to fit in other duties associated with such a teaching post and his own practice and rehearsal. He believes in the value of spending this time investing in the musicians of the future. He also gives the occasional master-class elsewhere. His method of teaching is charismatic for students and audiences alike. In his master classes he demonstrates an astounding gift for helping students to rethink their interpretations in a very short time, enabling them to perform far more meaningfully to audiences. He achieves this mainly through the use of vivid imagery - but not neglecting the technique which enables the interpretation.

Maxim Vengerov was appointed professor at the Royal Academy of Music in London in 2005.

Playing with the Group Virtuosi

In 2001 he collaborated with the Israeli violin ensemble, Virtuosi, with Vag Papian playing the piano. The leader of the Virtuosi, Michael Parhomovsky, arranged well known ‘lollipops’ for the ensemble, including Rachmaninov’s Vocalise and Monti’s Czardas. The resulting concert tour and the ‘Vengerov and Virtuosi’ CD were certainly different from Maxim’s usual performances and had mixed receptions ranging from the rapturous to some criticisms of over sentimentality.

Playing the Viola

So what was left to do for the 2002 project? Maxim never stands still, so he decided to learn the viola. This was sparked by a need to find a coupling for the Britten violin concerto recorded in March 2002. After extensive research Maxim decided that nothing but the Walton Viola Concerto would do, after a telephone conversation with his father who suggested this piece, and having listened to this and the Violin Concerto. Maxim was kindly loaned a Guanerius from the Royal Academy of Music in London in March 2002. He studied hard during the following few weeks. Then, to the surprise of all who were expecting one of Mozart’s violin concerti, he performed the viola part of the Sinfonia Concertante in Eb (K364) with one of his students, Philippe Mesin, playing the violin part on his tour with the English Chamber Orchestra. He had learnt the viola in just six weeks!

At the end of the tour the Guanerius was returned but was replaced by the Royal Academy of Music with the ‘Archinto’ Stradivarius, a much larger, but much deeper and more sonorous viola and one of only ten surviving Stradivari violas in the world. Maxim lived with this instrument, taking it everywhere with him during that summer, including on tour in North America, whilst he learnt the Walton Viola Concerto. He says learning the viola was like carrying a developing child, there being nine months of gestation before the recording was made in December 2002. He also describes it as a love affair – a passionate encounter which diverted his sole attention from the violin! The next day after the recording, the ‘Archinto’ was returned to the Royal Academy of Music. He now has his own viola, made to his own specifications by Sam Zygmuntowicz.

Maxim has said about playing the viola: ‘The colours and the depth of the instrument really have contributed a lot to my violin playing. I think my sound on the violin has become deeper, and now I perceive and hear the violin's sound with my inner imagination quite differently’

A Solo Recital

Also in 2002 he performed a much acclaimed solo concert tour in which he played four of Ysaye’s six solo sonatas - and solo Bach on his Baroque violin. Whilst in the middle of the tour sadly his grandfather died, but Maxim was able to attend his funeral. One or two days later the next recital, which was in Brussels, was dedicated to his grandfather. It was a moving occasion for those present.

All the concerts were performed, as usual for Maxim, completely from memory. But unusually for a classical concert artist, Maxim also on this tour talked to the audience, telling jokes, and inviting questions from the stage. He is keen to break down the barriers between the performer and the audience and will occasionally address the audience after playing a concerto, seizing the opportunity if he plays an encore.

An Accident

The main project for 2003 was to be a solo Bach recital. Many recital dates had been booked but earlier in 2002 sadly the Landolfi violin suffered an accident, having been left in an unshut case beneath an open window. An unexpected heavy rainstorm poured in and flooded the case, and the baroque instrument was left lying in a couple of inches of water. Despite valiant efforts by Maxim’s luthier it seems that it is irreparably damaged and has gone beyond ‘flu’ or ‘being a little sick’ (Maxim’s optimistic bulletin for a few months after the incident) to terminal pneumonia. An unhappy ending for a very long and dear collaboration. The Bach recitals were replaced with a series consisting of all three of the Brahms’ sonatas for violin and piano. Fortunately he was able to find pianists of calibre at short notice, such as Evgenia Startseva and Fazil Say and later in 2004 also Lilya Zilberstein and Ian Brown.

Recordings

Maxim has recorded about 32 CDs (two are compilations or different versions), 4 LPs, and has appeared on 4 DVDs (a fifth has just one sound track by Maxim). They consist of an extraordinary number and range of works; for example 25 concerti are included (Maxim has more than these in his repertoire). The majority of Maxim’s recordings have received high acclaim and also numerous awards from the time of the recording of the Shostakovich and Prokofiev Concertos. He has often selected works for recordings which do not necessarily have great popular appeal, such as the Britten and Walton concerti and the solo CD, mainly consisting of Ysaye solo sonatas – but both CDs won tremendous accolades. Even in better known works such as the Lalo and Saint-Saens (third) concerti he brings his own fresh interpretations and new life (recorded 2003). In 2002 Maxim was given the prestigious award of ‘Artist of the Year’ by The Gramophone.

About Maxim and the sabbatical for 2005

Working out is an essential part of Maxim’s routine; ‘I go to fitness, every second day. The spine and the muscles have to be kept in a very good shape. Thus I manage to be permanently free. If the emotions overwhelm you, take over control, the body has to be strong enough to sustain it.’ Even with such care, he has not been immune from the kind of injuries which befall even non-virtuosi. He had a very unfortunate time during 2002 and 2003, damaging his arm in a fall in a hotel bathroom in Portugal and then a few months later pulling a muscle in his back just minutes before recording the Walton Viola Concerto, both of which took a long time to heal.

Maxim enjoys good food and times with friends when he can find the time, and recently he has started to write poetry in Russian. He enjoys all kinds of music he says. Nowadays he drives a much prized Lexus - so the early promise of a car as a reward for practice has been achieved! He remains unaffected despite his fame, which has brought him queues of adoring fans, young and old, wherever he plays, and numerous interviews (on one day alone he had fifteen!). He delights fellow performers by his total professionalism and the energy and musicality of his playing, fully inspiring them and in turn being inspired by them – and also by his sense of humour, which is never far away. He has a seemingly inexhaustible supply of funny stories to tell.

When Maxim is on his long tours lasting several months at a time he misses family life very much, including all the many family pets of whom he is very fond. His work schedule for much of the year consists of one day travelling and the next day rehearsing and/or performing. His published concert programme is but the tip of the iceberg. To this is added such activities as practising, teaching, recording sessions, receptions, rehearsals, charity work, interviews, seeing his luthier, meeting thousands of fans, CD promoting and signing, answering questions from fans - and finding time to eat, sleep and exercise and doing other maintenance jobs which humans need!

Maxim is very frequently hailed as being the greatest living violinist and is certainly regarded as being amongst the top performers, but to become so has involved him in years of exceptionally hard work from the time he was five years old. After a performing career of 25 years (and for many of those years he performed well over 120 concerts a year), Maxim decided to take a sabbatical from touring during 2005 in order to create some quality time for self-development. First though, in December 2004, Maxim returned to Moscow and Novosibirsk to give fund-raising concerts in both cities. He donated a harpsichord to the Moscow Conservatoire; this instrument was especially commissioned from the Parisian maker, von Nagel. He had many possible projects for his sabbatical, from learning jazz improvisation with Didier Lockwood in Paris and new works, to dancing the Tango, both in preparation for the Viola Tango Rock Concerto which had been written for him by Israeli composer Benjamin Yusupov. The whole sabbatical period was filmed by award-winning director Ken Howardand broadcast in London Weekend Television's South Bank Show series. A longer version was broadcast internationally as LIVING THE DREAM and was nominated for and won many TV awards. It was issued, with additional bonus material from the Moscow Conservatory concert, as a DVD by EMI Records in July 2007.

Maxim lasted only about five months of his sabbatical before the pull of the concert hall became too strong. Soon after an exciting premiere of the Viola Tango Rock Concerto by Yusupov in Hannover in May ( which involved him in playing his new viola, and the electric violin - and dancing with tango star Christiane Palha) Maxim returned into a full programme again. During the summer he recorded the Beethoven Concerto and the Two Romances with Rostropovich and the London Symphony Orchestra and in October he began the preparation of the recording of all the Mozart concerti which include a solo violin.

Maxim was appointed Visiting Professor of Violin at the Royal Academy of Music in London during 2005.

External links

• Official site
• Fan site
• Interview by Bruce Duffie
• Video Clips