Vadim Repin

Violinist Vadim Repin parlayed his experiences as a child prodigy and competition winner into a career as a major recording artist and international performing star. He is regarded as one of the leading violinists of his generation.
Repin was born on August 31, 1971, in Novosibirsk, Siberia, Russia, which was then part of the Soviet Union. He took up the violin at age five, and his teacher quickly recommended him for studies with the top Novosibirsk violin teacher Zakhar Bron. By seven, he was giving concerts, including a concerto performance with a local orchestra. At 11, Repin won the International Wieniawski Competition for Young Violinists in Poznan, Poland, and that opened the doors to an international career for the young violinist. He gave recital debuts in Moscow and St. Petersburg, and by 15, he had performed in Tokyo, in several German and Finnish cities, and in New York at Carnegie Hall. In 1989, Repin won the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels, Belgium, becoming the event’s youngest-ever winner. At that point, he moved to Britain.
Repin made his recording debut in 1995 on the Erato label with an album of Prokofiev sonatas, on which he was joined by another emerging virtuoso, Boris Berezovsky. That same year, he released a recording with the Hallé Orchestra under Kent Nagano, featuring violin concertos by Prokofiev and Shostakovich. He continued to record for Erato into the early 2000s, moving to Deutsche Grammophon for a recording of chamber music by Sergey Taneyev; since then, he has recorded mostly for that label. Despite his reputation as a virtuoso, Repin has been an enthusiastic chamber music player, joining forces with such prestigious artists as pianists Martha Argerich, Mikhail Pletnev, and Nikolai Lugansky, the latter a regular partner. Repin has appeared with major ensembles, including the Berlin Philharmonic, the Vienna Philharmonic, and the Philadelphia Orchestra. Unlike some other Russian expatriates, he has often programmed contemporary music; in 2010, he premiered and was the dedicatee of James MacMillan’s violin concerto with the London Symphony under Valery Gergiev. He also plays a wide variety of Russian and French music. By the early 2020s, Repin had amassed a catalog of more than 30 recordings. In 2021, he appeared on a Gewandhaus Orchestra of Leipzig album of new works by Sofia Gubaidulina, performing her Dialog: Ich und du — Violin Concerto No. 3. ~ James Manheim