Orpheus & Maxim Vengerov Mozart Concertos Nos. 1, 3, 4, and Concertone for Two Violins with Miho Saegusa

In 2007 he followed in the footsteps of his mentor, the late Mstislav Rostropovich, and turned his attention to conducting and in 2010 was appointed the first chief conductor of the Gstaad Festival Orchestra. June 2014 saw Mr Vengerov graduate with a Diploma of Excellence from the Moscow Institute of Ippolitov-Ivanov with professor Yuri Simonov and he has since finished a further 2-year program of opera conducting.

Highlights of recent seasons saw Mr Vengerov opening the season of the Orchestra Filarmonica della Scala with Maestro Chailly, a Residence with Monte Carlo Philharmonic and the Philharmonie in Paris as well as a world wide recital tours. Highlights of the 22/23 season saw him in an extensive US and Canadian recital tour including Berkeley, Kansas City, New York and Toronto, and an 11 concerts tour in the UK. Other orchestral performances as a soloist include Montreal, Vienna, London, Paris and Taiwan and chamber music concerts with Evgeny Kissin and Stephen Isserliss at Carngie Hall, and in Switzerland with Simon Trpcesky and Stephen Isserliss. He also joined Aspen and Bravo Vale Festival in the States this summer in Recital, Masterclasses and Concerto performance with Fabio Luisi and the Dallas SO and celebrated 40 years on stage at the Royal Albert Hall in a big gala concert in April 2023. In 2023/24 he will open the Shanghai International Festival with Christoph Eschenbach, will embarque on another world wine Recital tour including America, South America, Europe, Asia and Australia and will perform orchestra concerts in amongst others in Vienna, Paris and Milan.

In 2020 Maxim Vengerov became Classic FM’s first solo Artist in Residence and released a new recording of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto with conductor Myung-Whun Chung and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, coupled with works by Saint-Säens and Ravel as well as a live recital from Carnegie Hall.

As one of Mr Vengerov’s greatest passions is the teaching and encouraging of young talent, he has held various teaching positions around the world. He currently holds the Stephan and Viktoria Schmidheiny Stiftungsprofessor at the Mozarteum University Salzburg and since September 2016 he is also the Polonsky Visiting Professor of Violin at the Royal College of Music in London. In 2018 Maxim Vengerov became the Goodwill Ambassador of the Musica Mundi School – a unique institution, which supports young talents. With the vision of democratising the access of music learning, he launched his own online platform in January 2021:www.maximvengerov.com and created an impact across 170 countries and over 190 million reach. His first year programs include partnerships with musical institutions from around the world, the Lottery Ticket program, guest artist series inaugurated with Brett Yang from TwoSet Violin, as well as his new global community group who’s initiatives include the world leading Mentoring program, rural musical communities initiative and the Musical Pen Pals program for children.

Mr Vengerov has been profiled in a series of documentaries, including Playing by Heart, which was recorded by Channel Four Television and screened at the Cannes Television Festival in 1999, and Living the Dream, which was released worldwide and received the Gramophone Award for Best Documentary in 2008.

Mr Vengerov has received prestigious fellowships and honours from a number of institutions. In 2012 he was awarded an Honorary Visiting Fellowship at Trinity College Oxford and in 2019 he received an Honorary Doctorate from the Royal College of Music London and in 2019 he received an Honorary Doctorate from the Royal College of Music London and the Order of Cultural Merit from the Palace Monte Carlo.

Mr Vengerov has also received numerous awards including Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist Performance (with Orchestra) (2003), two Gramophone awards (1994, 1995), a Classical Brit Award (2004), five Edison Classical Music Awards (1995, 1996, 1998, 2003, 2004), two ECHO awards (1997, 2003) and a World Economic Forum Crystal award (2007) – honouring artists who have used their art to improve the state of the world.

He plays the ex-Kreutzer Stradivari (1727).

Aizuri's debut album Blueprinting, released by New Amsterdam Records, earned a 2019 GRAMMY Award nomination. Earthdrawn Skies, the Quartet’s second album, was named one of NPR’s “10 Best Classical Albums of 2023.” In 2022, Aizuri was one of the fellows of the Artist Propulsion Lab, a project of New York City’s classical radio station WQXR. In addition to the world’s great chamber music halls and series, the Quartet has performed in an eclectic variety of settings. Aizuri opened for and performed five nights of performances with the legendary band Wilco at New York’s United Palace Theatre, and appeared with Wilco on CBS’s The Tonight Show with Steven Colbert. With the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Ken-David Masur, the Quartet performed John Adams’s string quartet concerto Absolute Jest. The Quartet appeared in Kronos Quartet’s 2023 Kronos Festival at SFJAZZ, performing works from Kronos’s groundbreaking 50 For the Future initiative. Since 2023, Aizuri has been ensemble-in-residence with New York Youth Symphony’s Crescendo program.

Miho’s passion for chamber ensembles was ignited and nurtured through memorable summers at the Marlboro Music Festival, Ravinia Steans Institute, and Aspen Music Festival and School. During these summers, she collaborated with venerated musicians such as Mitsuko Uchida, Richard Goode, Arnold Steinhardt, David Soyer, Miriam Fried, and Lynn Harrell. In addition to the Aizuri albums, Miho recorded ela with the Concordia Chamber Players, featuring music by Amy Beach, Louise Farrenc, and Ellen Taafe Zwilich.

In addition to chamber music, Miho loves the energy and intimacy of chamber orchestras. She is a member and has served as an Artistic Director and Personnel Coordinator of the celebrated Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. For five seasons she was Concertmaster of the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, and since 2001 is a member of Iris Orchestra, now Iris Collective, where she has held the Isaac Stern Concertmaster Chair on numerous occasions. Miho has been a guest with the Festival Orchestra of Lincoln Center, Ottawa’s National Arts Center Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, East Coast Chamber Orchestra, NOVUS NY, Gamut Bach Ensemble, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, A Far Cry, and the Knights.

Miho has been featured as soloist with the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, Iris Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony, Aspen Concert Orchestra, Juilliard Orchestra, and the Yale Symphony Orchestra. As the first recipient of the Aspen Music Festival and School's Dorothy DeLay Fellowship, Miho performed in the Festival's memorial tribute to Miss DeLay with the Aspen Chamber Symphony and conductor David Zinman. Additional honors include prizes at the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra Young Artist Auditions, Wieniawski-Lipinski International Competition, Yehudi Menuhin International Competition, Juilliard Concerto Competition, and Yale University's William Waite Competition. Miho is a recipient of both the Scholarship and Music Awards from the Japanese American Association of New York.

Born in Kitakyushu, Japan, Miho has played the violin since the age of five. She is very grateful to her principal teachers Masao Kawasaki and Dorothy DeLay for encouraging curiosity. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Yale University, and completed graduate work at The Juilliard School, earning her Master of Music and Artist Diploma. While touring, Miho loves creating memories through food in addition to music. Whenever possible she likes to explore local restaurants and farmers markets, and experiments with recipes when back at home.