Igor Gruppman (Violin soloist)

Igor Gruppman is one of those special artists whose career successfully spans a number of artistic fields. Critically acclaimed for his depth of interpretation and sensitive musicianship, Igor Gruppman enjoys an exciting and multi-faceted career as conductor, violin soloist, and orchestra leader.

As the Leader of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and a frequent guest Leader of orchestras such as the London Symphony, London’s Royal Philharmonic, and St. Martin in the Fields, Mr. Gruppman has collaborated with and was influenced by some of the most esteemed conductors of his generation including Solti, Gergiev, Rostropovich, Colin Davis, Rattle, Haitink and Yannick Nézet Séguin.
Mr. Gruppman conducts orchestras on four continents. He made his debut with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra in the 2006/07 season, conducting a special Easter performance of The Last Seven Words by Haydn and Gubaidulina in the Rotterdam Cathedral. This program was repeated during the Easter Festival in Moscow where Mr. Gruppman shared the podium with Maestro Gergiev. Most recently Mr. Gruppman conducted the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra in two critically acclaimed Mendelssohn programs and an all-Mozart program at De Doelen Great Hall in Rotterdam where in addition to conducting the RPHO, Mr. Gruppman gave the Netherlands premiere of Mozart’s recently reconstructed Concerto for Violin and Piano (Op. 315F) with pianist Ronald Brautigam. In 2015/16 Mr. Gruppman combined performing chamber music with the great Emanuel Ax in the first half of the concert and conducting Beethoven Symphony No. 1 in the second. This formula proved to be extremely successful.

Igor Gruppman made his conducting debut with the Mariinsky Orchestra during the 2008 Easter Festival in St. Petersburg replacing at the last moment ailing Valery Gergiev and has appeared regularly with the orchestra ever since. In January of 2010,  Mr. Gruppman was honored as the Artist-of-the-Month by the Mariinsky Theater.  The 2014/15 season saw Mr. Gruppman conducting a series of three programs in St. Petersburg as well as a debut with the Orquesta Classica Santa Cecilia in Madrid at the great Auditorio Nacional de Musica. This engagement led to an invitation from the Orchestra Classica de Madeira at the beginning of 2016, which immediately led to a re-invitaion in 2017.
The 2016/17 season will be an exciting one as Igor Gruppman continues his work with the Mariinsky Orchestra, where he will be conducting two programmes as well as appearing as soloist. The summer of 2016 marks his debut at the prestigious Patras International Music Festival in Greece. Furtheremore, his 4-year residency at the Woodstock Mozart Festival continues, where he appears as conductor and soloist, together with his wife Vesna Stefanovic Gruppman.
The 2016/17 season will also mark the launch of a new orchestra/orchestra leadership academy. The academy will attract the highest level of young professionals from all over the world to Rotterdam for two extensive periods each year. The academy will be focused on performing and learning from the top leaders of the international classical music scene.
In 2017, two DVD recordings, as part of a series, will be released on the VAI label.

In the United States in addition to guest appearances, Mr. Gruppman holds the post of Principal Conductor of the Orchestra at Temple Square in Salt Lake City. These concerts are now regularly broadcast on cable television in the U.S. and abroad.  In recent seasons some of the world’s great artists have appeared with this orchestra, including Renee Fleming, Bryn Terfel and Ida Haendel.
In Asia Igor Gruppman has appeared several times as conductor and soloist with the Seoul Philharmonic.

As soloist, Mr. Gruppman is critically acclaimed for his “rich and beautiful tone, elegant phrasing, drive, passion and virtuosity.”  (Strad Magazine) He continues the proud tradition of his teachers, Leonid Kogan and Jascha Heifetz.  Most recently Mr. Gruppman received glowing reviews for his performances of the Double Concerto by Brahms under the baton of Valery Gergiev and the Second Violin Concerto by Prokofiev under the baton of Yannick Nézet Séguin, both with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra.

Mr. Gruppman's violin solo recordings have met with enthusiastic reception by the international press: Berlioz' Reverie and Caprice (Naxos); Respighi’s Poema Autunnale (Koch); Miklos Rosza’s Sinfonia Concertante and the Violin Concerto (Koch), which marks the first release of the concerto since the recording by Heifetz for whom this piece was written. Arnold's Concerto for Two Violins and Orchestra with the San Diego Chamber Orchestra won a Grammy Award.  Most recently the long-awaited reconstructed original string version of the Brahms’ F Minor Quintet recorded with the members of the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields was released on the Biddulph label.

Mr. Gruppman is a graduate of the Moscow Conservatory where he studied with Leonid Kogan and Mstislav Rostropovich, followed by studies with Jascha Heifetz in Los Angeles, and now is on the faculty of the Rotterdam Conservatory. Igor and Vesna Gruppman co-founded the Gruppman International Violin Institute in 2002 to select, train and develop the careers of exceptionally gifted violinists around the world, using the latest videoconferencing technology.
Mr. Gruppman plays the 1731 “Julles Garcin” Stradivarius violin generously provided by the Erasmus Foundation.