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Vladimir Spivakov

A world-class violinist and conductor, People's Artist of the USSR, Hero of Labour of Russia — and the man who in 1994 founded a charity to support gifted children.

Vladimir Teodorovich Spivakov was born on 12 September 1944 in Ufa. He studied the violin at the Moscow Conservatory under the distinguished teacher Yuri Yankelevich; David Oistrakh had a profound influence on him.

In the 1960s and 1970s, Spivakov became a laureate of the world's leading international competitions — the Marguerite Long — Jacques Thibaud Competition in Paris, the Paganini Competition in Genoa, the competitions in Montreal and the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. Since 1975 he has performed as a soloist with the world's foremost orchestras.

1944
year of birth, Ufa
1979
Moscow Virtuosi
2003
NPR and president of the MICH
Vladimir Spivakov
“Children must know that they are loved.”

Orchestras and conducting

In 1979 Spivakov founded the chamber orchestra Moscow Virtuosi and became its artistic director and conductor. He studied the art of conducting under Israel Gusman, Leonard Bernstein and Lorin Maazel. In 2003 the maestro created the National Philharmonic of Russia and led it as artistic director and principal conductor; that same year he became president of the Moscow International House of Music.

Since 2001 Spivakov has hosted the festival “Vladimir Spivakov Invites…”, and for many years he led the International Music Festival in Colmar (France). In 2016 he founded the International Violin Competition in Ufa. The maestro has released more than fifty compact discs, and since 2014 on his own label, Spivakov Sound. Until 1997 he played a Gobetti violin, and thereafter a Stradivarius.

Titles and honours

People's Artist of the USSR (1989) and laureate of the USSR State Prize, People's Artist of Armenia, North Ossetia, Dagestan, Kabardino-Balkaria and Bashkortostan. In 2025 he was awarded the title of Hero of Labour of the Russian Federation. Full Cavalier of the Order “For Merit to the Fatherland”.

Among his foreign honours are the Officer's Cross of the Legion of Honour and the Order of Arts and Letters of France, the Order of the Star of Italy, and orders of Armenia and Kyrgyzstan. Spivakov is a “UNESCO Artist for Peace” (2006) and the holder of the UNESCO Mozart Gold Medal. He is a laureate of the State Prize of the Russian Federation (2012) and of the RF Government Prize in the field of culture. He is an honorary professor of Moscow State University. In 1994 a minor planet was named after Spivakov.

The maestro's cause

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For more than thirty years the Vladimir Spivakov Foundation has helped children step onto the great stage. Your support makes it possible.

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