Andrey Gridchuk

Andrey Gridchuk made his solo debut with the Philharmonic Orchestra of his native Irkutsk at the age of six. A year later, he enrolled in the renowned Special Music School at the Moscow Conservatory. He furthered his education at the Conservatory, receiving first-class training throughout. Among his teachers were Yury Yankelevich, Zinaida Gilels, Boris Belenky, Fyodor Druzhinin, and Yuri Bashmet, whom he went on to assist for several years.

“Bashmet’s influence on me was unquestionably the greatest,” Mr. Gridchuk recalls today, “not only during our years teaching together at the Conservatory, but even more so through our extensive collaboration in chamber ensembles, solo concerts, and performances with the Moscow Soloists.”

As a member of the Moscow Soloists ensemble, Mr. Gridchuk appeared in all the world’s leading concert halls until victories at two viola competitions—the 1984 All-Union Viola Competition in the USSR and the Maurice Vieux International Viola Competition in Orléans in 1989—paved the way for his brilliant solo career.

In 1994, he became the principal violist of the Deutsche Oper Berlin Orchestra, where he continues to work to this day.

Since then, Gridchuk has become a sought-after soloist, performing with orchestras such as the Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra, Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, Symphoniker Hamburg, Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra, Deutsche Oper Berlin Orchestra, Weimar Staatskapelle, English Chamber Orchestra, and Giuseppe Verdi Symphony Orchestra of Milan, under the batons of Yuri Bashmet, Rudolf Barshai, Riccardo Chailly, Marek Janowski, Rafael Kofman, Kent Nagano, Nicolás Pasquet, Ulf Schirmer, Christian Thielemann, and Krzysztof Penderecki.

Alongside maintaining a broad solo repertoire, Mr. Gridchuk is deeply involved in chamber music. Among his partners are Yuri Bashmet, Boris Berezovsky, Pamela Frank, Steven Isserlis, Clara Jumi Kang, Leila Josefowicz, Misha Maisky, Vadim Repin, Akiko Suwanai, Dmitry Sitkovetsky, Viktor Tretyakov, and the Borodin Quartet. He has been repeatedly invited to music festivals in Verbier, Wasa, Tours, Koblenz, and Paris (Louvre). His recordings of clarinet, viola, and piano trios by Max Bruch and Carl Reinecke with Romeo Tudorache and Tonino Riolo (Pavane Records) have received critical acclaim, as have his premiere recordings of sonatas Nos. 1 and 2 by Nikolai Roslavets (Le Chant Du Monde).

Mr. Gridchuk performs on a 1750 viola crafted by Paolo Antonio Testore.