Aleksey Mikhailovich Igudesman (; born 22 February 1973) is a Russian-German violinist and composer. He performs in the comedy-musical duo Igudesman & Joo.

Biography

Igudesman was born in

Leningrad Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

, in what was then the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, to a musical Jewish family.How Alexey and Hyung Created Claughical Music
/ref> At the age of 6 he and his family immigrated to Germany. At the age of 12 he was accepted at the Yehudi Menuhin School in England. From 1989 to 1998 he studied violin with Boris Kuschnir at the Vienna Conservatory. Igudesman has several books published by

Universal Edition Universal Edition (UE) is an Austrian classical music publishing firm. Founded in 1901 in Vienna, it originally intended to provide the core classical works and educational works to the Austrian market. The firm soon expanded to become one of t ...

, including ''Style Workout'', ''The Catscratchbook'' and ''Pigs Can Fly'', as well as violin duet books ''Klezmer & More'', ''Celtic & More'', ''Latin & More'' and ''Asia & More''. In a project named ''Violins of the World'', Igudesman has performed his violin duets with

Gidon Kremer Gidon Kremer (; born 27 February 1947) is a Latvian classical violinist, artistic director, and founder of Kremerata Baltica. Life and career Gidon Kremer was born in Riga. His father was Jewish and had survived the Holocaust. His mother had ...

, Julian Rachlin, Janine Jansen, Vadim Repin, Pavel Vernikov and Alexandra Soumm. Igudesman's poems have been recited by

Roger Moore Sir Roger George Moore (14 October 192723 May 2017) was an English actor. He was the actor to portray Ian Fleming's fictional secret agent James Bond (literary character), James Bond in the Eon Productions/MGM Studios film series, playing the ...

. With his string trio Triology, he has given concerts all over the world, as well as recording several CDs for

Sony BMG Sony BMG Music Entertainment was an American record company owned as a 50–50 joint venture between Sony Corporation of America and Bertelsmann. The venture's successor, the revived Sony Music, is wholly owned by Sony, following their buyout o ...

. In 2009 and 2010 Igudesman published his first three violin sonatas, the second of which he dedicated to virtuoso violinist Julian Rachlin and the third to violinist Viktoria Mullova. In 2009, he won third place in the Crossover Composer Award with his work ''The Heat of Passion.'' Igudesman tours with pianist Hyung-ki Joo as the music and comedy duo Igudesman & Joo. Igudesman is also an actor and film director. His directing debut ', a feature-length

mockumentary A mockumentary (a portmanteau of ''mock'' and ''documentary'') is a type of film or television show depicting fictional events, but presented as a Documentary film, documentary. Mockumentaries are often used to analyze or comment on current event ...

about classical musicians such as Julian Rachlin and

Mischa Maisky Mischa Maisky (, , ; born 10 January 1948) is a Soviet-born Israeli cellist. Biography Mischa Maisky was born in 1948 in Riga and is the younger brother of organist, harpsichordist and musicologist Valery Maisky (1942–1981). He was taught by ...

and actors

John Malkovich John Gavin Malkovich (born December 9, 1953) is an American actor. He is the recipient of several accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award, in addition to nominations for two Academy Awards, a BAFTA Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and ...

and

, premiered at the Transylvanian International Film Festival in Romania in June 2012, and won "Most Entertaining Documentary" at DocMiami 2012 and has had a cinematic release in Germany. He is a co-founder of Music Traveler which provides an app to search and book practice rooms. Music Traveler has several notable musicians as ambassadors;

Billy Joel William Martin Joel (born May 9, 1949) is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Piano Man" after his Signature song, signature 1973 song Piano Man (song), of the same name, Joel has ha ...

Hans Zimmer Hans Florian Zimmer (; born 12 September 1957) is a German film score composer and music producer. He has won two Academy Awards, a BAFTA Award, five Grammy Awards, and has been nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards, Emmy Awards and a Tony ...

Sean Lennon is a British-American musician, songwriter, and producer. He is the son of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, and half-brother to Julian Lennon. Over the course of his career, he has been a member of the bands Cibo Matto, the Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tige ...

Adrien Brody Adrien Nicholas Brody (born April 14, 1973) is an American actor. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Polish pianist Władysław Szpilman in Roman Polanski's war drama '' The Pianist'' (2002) becoming the youngest acto ...

are their chief ambassadors. Since 2017, Igudesman has been touring the world with his programme ''The Music Critic'', in which John Malkovich plays the lead role of a music critic.

Discography

* 1998: Triology – ''Triology Plays Ennio Morricone'' * 1999: Triology – ''Who Killed the Viola Player?'' * 2003: Triology – ''Around The World in 77 Minutes'' * 2015: Aleksey Igudesman – ''Fasten Seat Belts'' * 2016: Igudesman & Joo – ''You Just Have to Laugh''

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Igudesman, Aleksey German male classical violinists 1973 births German Jews Living people German composers German male composers People educated at Yehudi Menuhin School Soviet emigrants to Germany 21st-century German classical violinists 21st-century German male musicians