Michael Vaiman (DE)

Michael Vaiman is a top prize-winner of the H. Wieniawski International Competition held in Poznań, Poland.

He is a violin professor at the Cologne University of Music (Musikhochschule). Also, he teaches at prestigious private institutions such as the Euro Arts Academy and Talent Music Master Courses (Italy).

Born in Odessa (Ukraine), Vaiman studied at the renowned Stolyarsky School of Music in his hometown. He continued his education at the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory with legendary violinists David Oistrakh and Semyon Snitkovsky.

Already early in his career, critics highlighted Vaiman as a “poet of the violin,” whose playing is characterized not only by technical brilliance but also by a remarkably refined and articulate tone, as well as a profound understanding of music.

His repertoire is notably diverse, including all violin sonatas by Beethoven, Brahms, Prokofiev, Franck, and Schumann, as well as the complete works for violin and piano by Schubert, Shostakovich, and Szymanowski. His repertoire also includes numerous violin concertos. He has also premiered works by several contemporary composers, including B. Tishchenko, L. Hoffman, D. Smirnov, and E. Firsova, and his discography features works by Bach, Brahms, Schumann, Liszt, Weinberg, Prokofiev, Ysaÿe, Szymanowski, Kreisler, Tartini, Stravinsky, Wieniawski, Schubert, among many others.

In recent years, he has performed as both a soloist and a chamber musician throughout Europe, the United States, Japan, and Israel. Highlights of his international career include appearances with such orchestras and conductors as the Berlin Symphony Orchestra (cond. G. H. Herbig), Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra (cond. Y. Simonov), St. Petersburg Symphony Orchestra (cond. A. Jansons), London Soloists Chamber Orchestra, Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra (cond. S. Sondeckis), Tokyo Chamber Soloists, and the Moscow Soloists (cond. Y. Bashmet).

He is a frequent guest at many chamber music festivals, including Kuhmo (Finland), Tours (France), the Elba Festival (Italy), and the Summit Music Festival (New York, USA), where he performs with renowned musicians such as Paul Badura-Skoda, Yuri Bashmet, Akiko Ebi, Mario Brunello, and Dina Yoffe. The Barbican Centre in London, Salle Pleyel in Paris, the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, and Bunka Kaikan in Tokyo are among the many prestigious halls where he has appeared.

Vaiman´s teaching career began in 1980 at the Central Music School of the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, where he taught until 1989. From 1989 to 1997, he was a professor at the Rubin Academy of Music and Dance of Tel Aviv University, and from 1995 to 1999, he was a visiting professor at Aichi University of the Arts in Nagoya, Japan.

He has given masterclasses around the world, including at the Mozarteum Summer Academy (Salzburg), Royal College of Music (London), Liszt Academy (Budapest), Toho Gakuen School (Tokyo), Central Conservatory of Music (Beijing), Southern Methodist University (Dallas), “Keshet Eilon” (Israel), and many other schools in Japan and Europe.

A renowned soloist and pedagogue, Vaiman has also served on the juries of numerous international competitions and as an artistic director of several festivals. In 1991, he founded the Israel Chamber Orchestra, which he managed and conducted until 1996.