Editing Vladimir Ashkenazy

{{Short description|Icelandic pianist and conductor from Russia}}{{Infobox person
| name               = Vladimir Davidovich Ashkenazy
| image              = Vladimir Ashkenazy.jpg
| caption            = Vladimir Ashkenazy in 2007
| native_name        = Влади́мир Дави́дович Ашкена́зи
| native_name_lang   = ru
| birth_date         = {{Birth date and age|1937|07|06}}
| birth_place        = [[Nizhny Novgorod|Gorky]], [[Soviet Union]]
| occupation         = Pianist, chamber music performer, conductor
| mother             = Yevstolia Grigorievna
| father             = [[David Ashkenazi]] (composer)
| awards             = Grammy Awards (7 times)<br>Order of the Falcon (Iceland)
}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2016}}
<!-- please do not add an infobox, per [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Composers#Biographical infoboxes]]-->
[[File:Vladimir Ashkenazy with wife and son 1963.jpg|thumb|Ashkenazy with his wife Þórunn and eldest son Vladimir in 1963]]
'''Vladimir Davidovich Ashkenazy''' ({{langx|ru|Влади́мир Дави́дович Ашкена́зи}}, ''Vladimir Davidovich Ashkenazi''; born 6 July 1937)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Vladimir Ashkenazy {{!}} Biography & Facts {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Vladimir-Ashkenazy |access-date=2024-10-15 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> is a Soviet-born Icelandic pianist, chamber music performer, and [[Conducting|conductor]]. Ashkenazy has collaborated with well-known orchestras and soloists. In addition, he has recorded a large repertoire of classical and romantic works. His recordings have earned him seven [[Grammy Awards]] and Iceland's [[Order of the Falcon]].

== Early life and education ==
Vladimir Ashkenazy was born in Gorky, Soviet Union (now [[Nizhny Novgorod]], Russia), to pianist and composer [[David Ashkenazi]] and to actress Yevstolia Grigorievna (born Plotnova). His father was Jewish and his mother came from a Russian [[Russian Orthodox Church|Orthodox]] family. Ashkenazy was christened in a Russian Orthodox church.<ref name="Independent">[https://web.archive.org/web/20081123092153/http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/ashkenazy--still-russian-to-the-core-949517.html Ashkenazy – Still Russian to the core], [[The Independent]], 3 October 2008 (retrieved 23 October 2008)</ref><ref>[http://www.icelandreview.com/icelandreview/daily_news/?cat_id=16567&ew_0_a_id=275815 Iceland Review Online: Daily News from Iceland, Current Affairs, Business, Politics, Sports, Culture]. Icelandreview.com (6 December 2005). Retrieved on 2013-08-02.</ref><ref>[http://www.enotes.com/contemporary-musicians/ashkenazy-vladimir-biography Ashkenazy, Vladimir]. Enotes.com. Retrieved on 29 October 2013.</ref> He began playing [[piano]] at the age of six and was accepted to the Central Music School at age eight, studying with [[Anaida Sumbatyan]].

Ashkenazy attended the [[Moscow Conservatory]] where he studied with [[Lev Oborin]] and [[Boris Zemliansky]]. He won second prize in the [[V International Chopin Piano Competition]] in Warsaw in 1955 and the first prize in the [[Queen Elisabeth Music Competition]] in Brussels in 1956. He shared the first prize in the 1962 [[International Tchaikovsky Competition]] with British pianist [[John Ogdon]]. As a student, like many in that period, he was harassed by the [[KGB]] to become an "informer".<ref>{{Cite web |last=lebrecht |first=norman |date=2009-08-10 |title=Vladimir Ashkenazy: My Life in the KGB |url=https://slippedisc.com/2009/08/vladimir_ashkenazy_my_life_in/ |access-date=2023-04-28 |website=Slippedisc |language=en}}</ref>

== Career ==
{{ external media | float = right|width=250px |audio1 = You may listen to Vladimir Ashkenazy performing [[Frédéric Chopin]]'s: <br> [[Études (Chopin)|Études Op. 10]] <br> [[Études (Chopin)|Études Op. 25]] <br> [[Nocturnes, Op. 9 (Chopin)|Nocturne in B major, Op. 9, No. 3]] <br> [[Ballade No. 2 (Chopin)|Ballade No. 2]] <br> and [[Franz Liszt]]'s [[Mephisto Waltz|Mephisto Waltz No. 1]] in 1960 [https://archive.org/details/VLADIMIRASHKENAZYPlaysCHOPINLISZTearlyRecordings/06.Op.10No.6InE-flatMinor.mp3 '''here on archive.org''']}}
Ashkenazy has recorded a wide range of piano repertoire, both solo works and concerti. His recordings include:
* [[Johann Sebastian Bach|Bach]]'s ''[[The Well-Tempered Clavier]]''
* Bach's ''[[French Suites (Bach)|French Suites]]'' 
* [[24 Preludes and Fugues (Shostakovich)|24 Preludes and Fugues]] of [[Dmitri Shostakovich|Shostakovich]]
* complete sonatas by [[Ludwig van Beethoven|Beethoven]]
* complete sonatas by [[Alexander Scriabin|Scriabin]]
* the complete works for piano by [[Sergei Rachmaninoff|Rachmaninoff]]
* the complete works for solo piano by [[Frédéric Chopin|Chopin]]
* the (almost) complete works for piano by [[Robert Schumann|Schumann]]
His concerto recordings include:
* the complete piano concertos of [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart]] (conducting from the keyboard with the [[Philharmonia Orchestra]])
* three cycles of the 5 Beethoven concerti
::(a) with the [[Chicago Symphony Orchestra]] under [[Georg Solti|Sir Georg Solti]]
::(b) with [[Zubin Mehta]] and the [[Vienna Philharmonic]]
::(c) conducting from the piano with the [[Cleveland Orchestra]]
* [[Johannes Brahms|Brahms]] with [[Bernard Haitink]] ([[Piano Concerto No. 1 (Brahms)|No. 1]] with the [[Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra|Concertgebouw Orchestra]]; [[Piano Concerto No. 2 (Brahms)|No. 2]] with the Vienna Philharmonic)
* [[Béla Bartók|Bartók]] (with Georg Solti and the [[London Philharmonic Orchestra]])
* [[Sergei Prokofiev|Prokofiev]] (with [[André Previn]] and the [[London Symphony Orchestra]])
* two cycles of the Rachmaninoff concerti
::(a) with André Previn and the London Symphony Orchestra
::(b) with Bernard Haitink and the Concertgebouw Orchestra

In public piano performances, Ashkenazy was known for rejecting a tie and button shirt in favor of a white turtleneck and for running (not walking) onstage and offstage. He has also performed and recorded chamber music. Moreover, Ashkenazy has had an acclaimed collaborative career, including an acclaimed recording of [[Beethoven]]'s complete [[violin sonatas]] with [[Itzhak Perlman]], as well as the cello sonatas with [[Lynn Harrell]], and the piano trios with Harrell and [[Perlman]].

Midway through his international pianistic career, Ashkenazy branched into conducting. In Europe, Ashkenazy was principal conductor of the [[Royal Philharmonic Orchestra]] from 1987 to 1994, 1989-1999 Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the [[Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin]] (initial name was Radio-Symphonie-Orchester Berlin)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.dso-berlin.de/de/orchester/personen/biografien/vladimir-ashkenazy/ |access-date=24 November 2024 |title=Vladimir Ashkenazy - DSO Berlin }}</ref>and of the [[Czech Philharmonic]] from 1998 to 2003. Ashkenazy is also conductor laureate of the [[Philharmonia Orchestra]], conductor laureate of the [[Iceland Symphony Orchestra]], and music director of the [[European Union Youth Orchestra]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.euyo.org.uk/artists/directorEUYO.htm |title=European Union Youth Orchestra |access-date=23 October 2008 |url-status=unfit |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080420171344/http://www.euyo.org.uk/artists/directorEUYO.htm |archive-date=20 April 2008 }}. European Unions Youth Orchestra.</ref> In July 2013 he became director of the ''Accademia Pianistica Internazionale di Imola'', succeeding its founder and director [[Franco Scala]].<ref>{{cite news | url=http://bologna.repubblica.it/cronaca/2013/07/15/news/musica_ashkenazy_nuovo_direttore_dell_accademia_pianistica_imola-63033612/ | title=Musica: Vladimir Ashkenazy nuovo direttore dell'Accademia pianistica di Imola | work=La Repubblica (Bologna) | date=15 July 2013 | access-date=12 January 2014}}</ref> His recordings as a conductor include complete cycles of the symphonies of Sibelius and of Rachmaninoff, as well as orchestral works of Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Scriabin, [[Richard Strauss]], [[Igor Stravinsky|Stravinsky]], Beethoven, and Tchaikovsky.

Outside of Europe, Ashkenazy served as music director of the [[NHK Symphony Orchestra]] from 2004 to 2007. He was chief conductor of the [[Sydney Symphony Orchestra]] from 2009 to 2013.<ref>{{cite news | author=Joyce Morgan; Paul Bibby | title=Maestro's star power a masterstroke for orchestra | date=12 April 2007 | url=http://www.smh.com.au/news/arts/maestros-star-power-a-masterstroke-for-orchestra/2007/04/11/1175971183173.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1 | newspaper=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]] | page=13| access-date=12 April 2007}}</ref>

Ashkenazy has recorded for [[Decca Records|Decca]] since 1963; in 2013, Decca celebrated his 50th anniversary with the label with the box set 'Vladimir Ashkenazy: 50 Years on Decca', including 50 of Ashkenazy's recordings as both pianist and conductor.<ref>{{cite web|title=VLADIMIR ASHKENAZY 50 Years on Decca|url=http://www.deccaclassics.com/en/cat/4785093|website=Decca Classics|access-date=17 October 2016}}</ref> As part of Ashkenazy's 80th birthday celebrations, Decca is releasing the 'Complete Piano Concerto Recordings' and 'Ashkenazy on Vinyl' in July 2017. In other media, Ashkenazy has also appeared in several films on music by [[Christopher Nupen]]. He interpreted the soundtrack of the film Piano Forest: works from the repertoire of Bach, Mozart, Chopin and Beethoven. He has also made his own orchestration of [[Modest Mussorgsky]]'s piano suite ''[[Pictures at an Exhibition]]'' (1982). There has been a CD produced of his works named 'The Art of Ashkenazy', and a biography of Ashkenazy, 'Beyond Frontiers', has been published.

On 17 January 2020 the artist management agency [[Harrison Parrott]] announced Ashkenazy's retirement from public performance.<ref>{{cite web|title=VLADIMIR ASHKENAZY RETIRES|url= https://www.harrisonparrott.com/news/2020-01-17/vladimir-ashkenazy-retires|website=Harrison Parrott|date= 17 January 2020|access-date=18 January 2020}}</ref>
==Personal life==
[[File:Jury Kirill Kondrashin concours, Bestanddeelnr 933-0956 (cropped).jpg|thumb|Ashkenazy (1984)]]
In 1961, he married the [[Iceland]]-born Þórunn Jóhannsdóttir, who studied [[piano]] at the [[Moscow Conservatory]].<ref name="Independent"/> To marry Ashkenazy, Þórunn was forced to give up her Icelandic citizenship and declare that she wanted to live in the USSR. Her name is usually transliterated as "Thorunn"; her nickname is Dódý,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.britishpathe.com/video/russian-pianist-vladimir-ashkenazy-interviewed/query/Hotel|title=Russian Pianist Vladimir Ashkenazy Interviewed|website=Britishpathe.com|access-date=4 January 2019}}</ref> so she is called Dódý Ashkenazy.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://music.apple.com/us/album/rachmaninov-transcriptions/1452170312|title=Rachmaninov: Transcriptions by Alastair Mackie, Dody Ashkenazy, Vladimir Ashkenazy & Vovka Ashkenazy|access-date=4 January 2019|website=[[iTunes]]|date=January 2002 }}</ref>

After numerous bureaucratic procedures, the Soviet authorities agreed to allow the Ashkenazys to visit [[Western Bloc|the West]] for musical performances and for visits to his parents-in-law with their first grandson. In his memoirs, Soviet leader [[Nikita Khrushchev]] recollected that Ashkenazy on a visit to [[London]] had refused to return to the Soviet Union. Khrushchev mentioned that Ashkenazy then sought advice from the Soviet Embassy in London, who in turn referred the matter to Moscow. Khrushchev said he was of the opinion that to require Ashkenazy to return to the USSR would have made him an "Anti-Soviet". He further said that this was a good example of an artist being able to come and go in and out of the USSR freely, which Ashkenazy said was a gross "distortion of the truth".<ref>Khrushchev Remembers, London 1971 p. 521</ref> In 1963, Ashkenazy decided to leave the USSR permanently, establishing residence in London, where his wife's parents lived.

The couple moved to Iceland in 1968 where, in 1972, Ashkenazy became an Icelandic citizen.<ref>[http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/38311/Vladimir-Ashkenazy Vladimir Ashkenazy]. Encyclopædia Britannica.</ref> In 1970 he helped to found the [[Reykjavík Arts Festival]], of which he remains Honorary President.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.listahatid.is/en/about/organisation/|archive-url=https://archive.today/20131104092345/http://www.listahatid.is/en/about/organisation/|url-status=dead|archive-date=4 November 2013|title=Organisation — Reykjavík Artfest|date=4 November 2013|website=Archive.vn|access-date=4 January 2019}}</ref><ref>[http://www.efa-aef.eu/en/festivals/members/profile/663/Reykjavik%20Arts%20Festival/ European Festivals Association] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121231232113/http://www.efa-aef.eu/en/festivals/members/profile/663/Reykjavik%20Arts%20Festival/ |date=31 December 2012 }}. Efa-aef.eu. Retrieved on 29 October 2013.</ref> In 1978 the couple and their (then) four children (Vladimir Stefan, Nadia Liza, Dimitri Thor, and Sonia Edda) moved to [[Lucerne]], Switzerland. Their fifth child, Alexandra Inga, was born in 1979. Beginning in 1989, Ashkenazy resided in [[Meggen]], Switzerland, on [[Lake Lucerne]].<ref>[http://bazonline.ch/leben/gesellschaft/Es-ist-schwer-die-Sowjetunion-zu-vermissen/story/12490064 Interview with Vladimir Ashkenazy] ''Basler Zeitung'', 3 March 2015</ref> His eldest son Vladimir, who uses his nickname 'Vovka' as a stage name, is a pianist, as well as a teacher at the Imola International Piano Academy. His second son, Dimitri, is a clarinetist.

==Awards and recognition==
Ashkenazy has been recognised by [[The Recording Academy]] several times. He won seven [[Grammy Awards]] from 21 nominations.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Vladimir Ashkenazy {{!}} Artist {{!}} GRAMMY.com |url=https://www.grammy.com/artists/vladimir-ashkenazy/763 |access-date=2024-08-31 |website=grammy.com}}</ref> 
*1955 [[V International Chopin Piano Competition]], Warsaw (Second prize)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.konkurs.chopin.pl/redirect.php?DOC=d_ifoo99 |title=Competition V |access-date=4 May 2007 |author=Albert Grudziński |year=1955 |publisher=IFCPC Official Site |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070414123216/http://www.konkurs.chopin.pl/redirect.php?DOC=d_ifoo99 |archive-date=14 April 2007 |df=dmy-all }}</ref>
*1956 [[Queen Elisabeth Music Competition]] for piano, Brussels
*1962 [[International Tchaikovsky Competition]], Moscow (shared with [[John Ogdon]])
*2000 [[Hanno R. Ellenbogen Citizenship Award]], with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra conducting corps
*Current president of the [[Rachmaninoff Society]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2011-09-17 |title=Rachmaninoff Society - About Us |url=http://www.rachmaninoff.org/about/about.php |access-date=2024-10-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110917010723/http://www.rachmaninoff.org/about/about.php |archive-date=17 September 2011 }}</ref>
* [[Elgar Medal]], 2019<ref>{{cite web |title=Elgar Society Awards |publisher=[[Elgar Society]] |access-date=2 June 2021 |url=https://elgarsociety.org/elgar-society-awards/ }}</ref>
*2014 Sergei Rachmaninov International Award
;[[Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist(s) Performance (with orchestra)]]:
*[[16th Grammy Awards|1974]] ''[[Ludwig van Beethoven|Beethoven]]: [[List of compositions by Ludwig van Beethoven#Concertos|The Piano Concertos]] (Vladimir Ashkenazy, Sir Georg Solti & Chicago Symphony Orchestra)''

;[[Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance]]:
*[[21st Grammy Awards|1979]] ''[[Ludwig van Beethoven|Beethoven]]: [[List of compositions by Ludwig van Beethoven#Violin sonatas|Sonatas for Violin and Piano]] ([[Itzhak Perlman]] & Vladimir Ashkenazy)''
*[[24th Grammy Awards|1982]] ''[[Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky|Tchaikovsky]]: [[Piano Trio (Tchaikovsky)|Piano Trio in A minor]] (Vladimir Ashkenazy, Itzhak Perlman, [[Lynn Harrell]])''
*[[30th Grammy Awards|1988]] ''[[Ludwig van Beethoven|Beethoven]]: [[List of compositions by Ludwig van Beethoven#Piano trios|The Complete Piano Trios]] (Vladimir Ashkenazy, Itzhak Perlman, Lynn Harrell)''

;[[Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist Performance (without orchestra)|Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist Performance]]:
*[[28th Grammy Awards|1986]] ''[[Maurice Ravel|Ravel]]: [[Gaspard de la nuit]]; [[Pavane pour une infante défunte]]; [[Valses nobles et sentimentales (Ravel)|Valses nobles et sentimentales]]''
*[[42nd Grammy Awards|2000]] ''[[Dmitri Shostakovich|Shostakovich]]: [[24 Preludes and Fugues (Shostakovich)|24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87]]''

=== ARIA Music Awards ===
The [[ARIA Music Awards]] is an annual awards ceremony that recognises excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of [[Australian music]]. They commenced in 1987. 
{{awards table}}
! {{Abbr|Ref.|Reference}}
|-
| [[ARIA Music Awards of 2012|2012]]
| ''Elgar: The Dream of Gerontius'' (with [[Sydney Symphony Orchestra]])
| [[ARIA Award for Best Classical Album|Best Classical Album]]
| {{nom}}
| <ref name="ARIAClassical">ARIA Award previous winners. {{cite web|url=https://www.ariaawards.com.au/history/award/best-classical-album?view=list#|title=ARIA Awards – Winners by Award|publisher=Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA)|access-date=9 July 2022}}</ref>
|-
{{end}}

=== Critical reception ===

''[[The Guardian]]'' wrote in 2018 that Ashkenazy conducted pieces by [[Prokofiev]] and [[Glière]] as if he had been "born to do it" during a concert series that explored the musical response to the [[Bolshevik Revolution]] of 1917, including composer [[Alexander Mosolov]]'s ''Iron Foundry'' (1927) and the [[Suite (music)|suite]] from ''[[The Red Poppy]]'', a [[ballet]] with music by Glière.<ref>{{cite news |title=Philharmonia/Ashkenazy review – thumping Soviet classics pin you to your seat |url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2018/mar/23/philharmonia-orchestra-vladimir-ashkenazy-royal-festival-hall-review |access-date=23 July 2019 |work=The Guardian |date=25 Mar 2018}}</ref>

==Bibliography==
*{{cite book | last=Ashkenazy | first=Vladimir | author2=Parrott, Jasper | title=Beyond Frontiers | url=https://archive.org/details/beyondfrontiers0000parr | url-access=registration | location=New York | publisher=Atheneum | year=1985 | isbn=0-689-11505-9 }}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}

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{{succession box | title=[[Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin|Principal Conductor, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin]] | before=[[Riccardo Chailly]] | years=1989–1999| after=[[Kent Nagano]]}}
{{s-bef | before=[[Charles Dutoit]]}}
{{s-ttl | title=[[NHK Symphony Orchestra|Music Director, NHK Symphony Orchestra]] | years=2004–2007}}
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{{Gramophone Hall of Fame}}
{{Sydney Symphony conductors}}
{{Czech Philharmonic conductors}}
{{RPO principal conductors}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ashkenazy, Vladimir}}
[[Category:1937 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Musicians from Nizhny Novgorod]]
[[Category:20th-century conductors (music)]]
[[Category:21st-century conductors (music)]]
[[Category:20th-century Russian male musicians]]
[[Category:21st-century Russian male musicians]]
[[Category:Russian classical pianists]]
[[Category:Soviet defectors]]
[[Category:Russian male classical pianists]]
[[Category:Icelandic conductors (music)]]
[[Category:Icelandic expatriates in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Grammy Award winners]]
[[Category:Honorary members of the Royal Academy of Music]]
[[Category:Moscow Conservatory alumni]]
[[Category:Prize-winners of the International Chopin Piano Competition]]
[[Category:Prize-winners of the International Tchaikovsky Competition]]
[[Category:Prize-winners of the Queen Elisabeth Competition]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of Merit of Berlin]]
[[Category:Soviet emigrants to Iceland]]
[[Category:Naturalised citizens of Iceland]]
[[Category:Icelandic emigrants to Switzerland]]
[[Category:Musicians from Lucerne]]
[[Category:Jewish classical pianists]]
[[Category:Russian emigrants to Iceland]]
[[Category:Russian emigrants to Switzerland]]
[[Category:Soviet Jews]]
[[Category:Russian Ashkenazi Jews]]
[[Category:Chief conductors of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra]]
[[Category:Principal conductors of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra]]
[[Category:Chief conductors of the Czech Philharmonic]]
[[Category:Chief conductors of the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin]]