ANTON MARTYNOV – VIOLIN Violinist above all, but also conductor, pianist and composer, Anton Martynov has the art of bringing his audiences into new musical horizons. A virtuoso from the start, born into the Russian School of violin playing, he is one of today’s great soloists, playing a singular repertoire that he enriches with his personal touch in halls and festivals all over the world. His subtle and powerful playing is for him a way of invoking the spirits. A sort of modern- day Vivaldi, Anton Martynov is described by Ivry Gitlis as “a complete musician: magnifcent violinist, excellent pianist, composer and conductor – what more can you expect – all in one person! ».

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Born in Moscow to a family of physicists, Anton Martynov began playing the violin at the age of fve. He studied at the Gnessin School and Academy with Elena Malkina, Irina Svetlova, Vladimir Spivakov and Valentin Berlinski, then with Dora Schwarzberg in Brescia and with Gigino Maestri at the Milan Conservatory. In 1993, he recorded Brahms’ Concerto Op. 77, distributed by ARTE. Winner of the Stresa International Competition (1994), he joined the Anton Quartet in Paris and became soloist of the Milan Symphony Orchestra under Riccardo Chailly. He collaborated with Philippe Herreweghe for several years and played regularly as a soloist with Marc Minkowski’s Les Musiciens du Louvre. His practice of various instruments (alto, piano, harpsichord and organ besides violin) and composition lead him to conducting, which he studied with Alun Francis and George Victor Dumanescu.

In the last few years he has performed in France, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Brazil, Russia, Slovenia, Turkey and Bulgaria, playing with the Orchestre de la Suisse Italienne (Lugano), the Ensemble Apollo (The Hague), the Maggio Musicale and Modo Antiquo (Florence), the Sonatori de la Gioiosa Marca (Treviso), the Orchestre de Chambre, and many others. His partners include: Martha Argerich, Boris Berezovsky, Andreas Brantelid, Gérard Caussé, Henri Demarquette, Ivry Gitlis (who he also accompanies at the piano), Philippe Grafn, , Xavier Phillips, , Vassilis Varvaressos, Enrico Fagone. In 2017, he participated in the opening of the Bologna Festival performing in Trio with Martha Argerich and Jorge Boss.

His repertoire includes the complete repertoire of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Six Sonatas and Partitas, Niccolò Paganini’s 24 Caprices for solo violin, as well as his own transcriptions and compositions for violin, orchestra and other instruments. His talent is recognized by pianist Martha Argerichand violinist Ivry Gitlis, to whom he dedicated a Biographical Overture on the occasion of his 90th birthday, celebrated at the in Paris.

Several of his live recordings of the Lugano Festival are included in the collections of the “Martha ArgerichProject” (EMI, Warner Music). Two other CDs are dedicated to today’s composers Antonio Santana (Erol, 2014) and Alexander Mansourian (Brilliant Classics, 2017). The frst two CDs of the “Music for Two” series with Kremena Nikolova (NovAntiqua Records) made headlines in the “Classical Sin” magazine in 2016 and won the International Classical Music Awards in 2017. The recording of Federico Maria Sardelli’s Violin Concerto under the direction of the author (Brilliant Classics, 2014) received 5 Diapason stars in 2014. His recording of Vivaldi’s complete “La Stravaganza” with Sardelli and Modo Antiquo will be released by Dynamic.

Artistic director of the “Rive Gauche Musique” seasons from 2009 to 2015, Anton Martynov is the founder and artistic director, with Michaël Guttman, of the Parisian festival Le Printemps du Violon, the third edition of which will take place in March 2018. He is also professor of violin at the Conservatoire Royal de Mons (Belgium) and assistant to Philippe Grafn at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Paris. He plays a magnifcent violin made by the Neapolitan luthier Nicolò Gagliano in 1732.