Maxim Vengerov is universally hailed as one of the world’s finest musicians, and often referred to as the greatest living string player in the world today.

Born in 1974, he began his career as a solo violinist at the age of five, won the Wieniawski and Carl Flesch international competitions at ages 10 and 15 respectively, studied with Galina Tourchaninova and Zakhar Bron, and made his first recording at the age of 10. He went on to record for high-profile labels including Melodia, Teldec, Deutsche Grammophon and Warner, earning among others, several Grammys and five Gramophone Classical artist of the year awards. 

Vengerov made his US Debut at the age of 16 with the New York Philharmonic and Franz Welser-Möst. In 1997, aged 23, Vengerov became the first classical musician to be appointed an International Goodwill Ambassador by UNICEF and that same year performed at the Grammy Award Ceremony the finale of the Shostakovich violin concerto to standing ovation. By the time he was 25, he worked and recorded with all major orchestras and conductors worldwide: with the Berlin Philharmonic and Claudio Abbado, Israel Philharmonic with Zubin Mehta, Leipzig Gewandhaus with Kurt Masur and Lorin Maazel, made 5 recordings with the London Symphony Orchestra and Mstislav Rostropovich, collaborated with the Concertgebouw Orchestra and Ricardo Chailly, the Wiener Philharmoniker and Zubin Mehta and Orchestra della Scala with Carla Maria Giulini.

In the US he has been a regular guest with the Chicago Symphony with Daniel Barenboim, the New York Philharmonic with Kurt Masur and Lorin Maazel, the Boston Symphony with Seiji Ozawa, the Metropolitan Orchestra with James Levine, the San Francisco Symphony with Michael Tilson Thomas and with all the major festivals including Tanglewood, Ravinia, Hollywood Bowl, Bravo Vail and Aspen. He also played a major role at the Shostakovich Festival with the New York Philharmonic and Chicago Symphony under Rostropovich.

In 2007 he followed in the footsteps of his mentors, the late Mstislav Rostropovich and Daniel Barenboim, and turned his attention to conducting and in 2010 was appointed the first chief conductor of the Gstaad Festival Orchestra. He has conducted the Munich Phiharmonic, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Montreal and Toronto Symphony Orchestras, RTE Dublin, Orchestre National de France as well as Seoul Philharmonic and Tokyo Symphony. From 2013-2016 he had his own yearly “Vengerov Festival’ in Tokyo. In January 2020 he became Classic FM’s first solo Artist in Residence and released a new recording of Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto with conductor Myung-Whun Chung and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, coupled with works by Saint-Säens and Ravel as well as a live recital from his Carnegie Hall concert in October 2018. 

Recent highlights include opening the season of the Orchestra Filarmonica della Scala with Riccardo Chailly, a Residence with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo in Monaco and at the Philharmonie in Paris and extensive recital tours throughout the world. Vengerov celebrated 40 years on stage with a sold-out Royal Albert Hall concert performing both the Violin concerto and the Double Concerto by Brahms. 

Throughout 2023-24, Maxim Vengerov is touring the world with over sixty concerts spanning Europe, North and South America, Asia, Australia, and New Zealand which include Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto with Orchestra della Scala and Zubin Mehta, the opening of the Shanghai International Arts Festival with Christoph Eschenbach and the Sibelius Violin Concerto with the Wiener Symphoniker at the Musikverein in Vienna. His recital tours always take centerstage in his career. This season he performs at London’s Barbican Centre, Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie, Paris’s Salle Gaveau, Rome’s Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Barcelona’s Palau de la Musica, Washington’s Kennedy Center, Chicago’s Symphony Center, New York’s Carnegie Hall, Berkeley’s Cal Center for the Performing Arts, Ann Arbor’s Hill Auditorium, Bogota’s Teatro Major, BuenosAires’s Teatro Colon, Sydney’s Opera House, Taipei’s National Concert Hall and Seoul’s Lotte Concert Hall. 

Vengerov will kick off his 50^th Birthday celebrations with a three year “Perspective" at Carnegie Hall with over 12 concerts, starting with all Mozart concertos in November 2024 and accumulating with all Beethoven Sonatas in 2027. Performing with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra with Myung Whun Chung, the Budapest Festival Orchestra with Ivan Fischer and the London Symphony Orchestra with Antonio Pappano. He will also partner up for chamber music with various world renowned colleagues including Evgeny Kissin, Steven Isserlis and Martha Argerich.

One of Vengerov’s greatest passions is teaching and encouraging young talent. He has held various teaching positions around the world, at the Menuhin Academy in Switzerland, the Mozarteum University Salzburg and the Royal Academy and College of Music in London.  With the aim of making musical support generally accessible, Maxim Vengerov initiated his own online teaching platform in January 2021: www.maximvengerov.com. The aim is to promote and democratize music learning online. To date he has given over 150 free lessons for students and amateur musicians from all over the world using a lottery system. 

Always curious for innovations in music, Vengerov has commissioned a number of works, such as Rodion Shchedrin’s ‘Concerto Cantabile’, giving the world premiere with the Tonhalle Orchestra under the direction of Mariss Jansons and later recording the work with Rostropovich and the London Symphony Orchestra. He also performed the world premiere of Qigang Chen’s concerto ‘La Joie de Souffrance’ under the direction of Yu Long which was subsequently recorded by Deutsche Grammophon. 

Vengerov performed twice for the US assembly, gave a memorable concert at the Vatican for Pope John Paul II and worked with a number of popular celebrities such as Sting, Stevie Wonder and Elton John. He has been profiled in a series of documentaries, including Playing by Heart, which was recorded by Channel Four Television and screened at the Cannes Television Festival in 1999, and Living the Dream, which was released worldwide and received the Gramophone Award for Best Documentary in 2008. In this documentary, Vengerov explores during a period of six months the journey of commissioning a challenging new Viola Concerto from Benjamin Yusupov that requires him to study rock and jazz improvisation on an electric violin with the legendary Didier Lockwood, and finally dance tango on stage.

Vengerov has received numerous awards including a Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist Performance, five Gramophone awards, a Classical Brit Award, five Edison Classical Music Awards, two ECHO Awards, and a World Economic Forum Crystal Award—honoring artists who have used their art to improve the state of the world—as well as the Victoires de la Musique, France. He was named a Chevalier of the Ordre du Mérite Culturel from the Palace in Monte Carlo where he resides.

Vengerov plays the ex-Kreutzer Stradivari (1727) among other instruments.