Valeriy Sokolov

The Ukrainian violinist, Valeriy Sokolov, is one of the most outstanding young artists of his generation. Working regularly with the world’s leading orchestras, he has enjoyed collaborations with the Philharmonia Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Cleveland Orchestra, Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, Rotterdam Philharmonic, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Symphony, Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, Seoul Philharmonic, NAC Ottawa, Orchestre National de France and the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen.  He works frequently with conductors including Vladimir Ashkenazy, David Zinman, Susanna Malkki, Andris Nelsons, Peter Oundjian, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Vasily Petrenko, Herbert Soudant & Juraj Valcuha

He has appeared in many major European festivals including Verbier and Lockenhaus. He regularly performs in the major concert halls around the world with highlights including regular Sunday Morning series appearances in Theatre du Chatelet as well as at the Wigmore Hall, Lincoln Center, Mariinsky Theatre, Prinzregenten Theatre in Munich and Musikverein in Vienna.

Exclusively signed with Erato records (formerly EMI Classics) Valeriy has developed a strong and varied catalogue of recordings, releasing Enescu’s Sonata No. 3 for them in 2009.  His first concerto DVD was of the Sibelius Violin Concerto under Vladimir Ashkenazy and with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, and Bruno Monsaingeon’s film “un violon dans l’âme / Natural Born Fiddler”, a record of Valeriy’s recital in Toulouse in 2004, received much praise from the critics and continues to be frequently broadcast on ARTE TV. In 2010 Valeriy recorded violin concertos of Bartok and Tchaikovsky under the direction of David Zinman and Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich. Since 2016 Valeriy teaches regularly at the International Masterclasses in Schaffhausen (Switzerland).

Valeriy has recently given performances with the St Petersburg Philharmonic, NDR Hamburg Sinfonieorchester, Orchestre de Paris, Philharmonia Orchestra, Singapore Symphony & the Bournemouth Symphony amongst others.  He has also recently completed a successful tour of a chamber music project with Lisa Batiashvili and Gautier Capuçon throughout Europe including venues in Paris, Vienna, Cologne, Amsterdam and London. Highlights of the 2017-18 season include debuts at the Lucerne Festival and with the MDR Leipzig, as well as Valeriy’s subscription debut with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande. This season also sees Valeriy return to the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, MDR Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk as well as the Concertgebouw with the Noord Nederlands Orkest. Valeriy will begin his role as Artist-in-Residence with the Weimar Staatskapelle, in which he will embark on an extensive US tour with the orchestra and its Music Director, Kirill Karabits.

Born in 1986 in Kharkov, Ukraine, Valeriy is one of the leading violinists to come out of Ukraine in the past twenty years. Valeriy left his native country age 13 to study with Natalia Boyarskaya at the Yehudi Menuhin School in England. He continued his studies with Felix Andrievsky, Mark Lubotsky, Ana Chumachenko, Gidon Kremer and Boris Kushnir. He was the first prize winner of the 2005 George Enescu International Violin Competition in Bucharest, Romania

Valeriy Sokolov has had a violin concerto (2014 ) and a sonata (2017) written for and dedicated to him by Ukraine’s most significant composer Yevhen Stankovich.