Alina Rinatovna Ibragimova (; born 28 September 1985) is a Russian-British violinist.

Early life and education

Ibragimova was born in Polevskoy, Russian SSR, to a Tatar family. Her family was musical, and she began playing the violin at age four. At 5, she started at the Gnessin School of Music in Moscow, studying under Valentina Korolkova, and by the age of 6 had started her career by playing with various orchestras, including the Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra. She was aged 10 in 1996 when her father, Rinat Ibragimov, took up the post of principal double bass with the

London Symphony Orchestra The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's orchestras, symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's ...

, and the family moved to England. In the following year, Ibragimova began her studies at the Yehudi Menuhin School (where her mother was professor of violin) under Natasha Boyarskaya. In December 1998, Ibragimova performed with

Nicola Benedetti Nicola Joy Nadia Benedetti (born 20 July 1987) is a Scottish classical solo violinist and festival director. Her ability was recognised when she was a child, including the award of BBC Young Musician of the Year when she was 16. She works wi ...

at the opening ceremony of the 50th Anniversary of the

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in Paris; they played

Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (German: �joːhan zeˈbasti̯an baχ ( – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety of instruments and forms, including the or ...

's double violin concerto under the baton of

Yehudi Menuhin Yehudi Menuhin, Baron Menuhin (22 April 191612 March 1999), was an American-born British violinist and conductor who spent most of his performing career in Britain. He is widely considered one of the greatest violinists of the 20th century. ...

. Menuhin died three months later, and Ibragimova performed the slow movement of the same concerto at his funeral in

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an Anglican church in the City of Westminster, London, England. Since 1066, it has been the location of the coronations of 40 English and British m ...

. After finishing her studies at the Yehudi Menuhin School, Ibragimova went on to the

Guildhall School of Music and Drama The Guildhall School of Music and Drama is a music school, music and drama school located in the City of London, England. Established in 1880, the school offers undergraduate and postgraduate training in all aspects of classical music and jazz al ...

for a year, and then to the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music (RCM) is a conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the undergraduate to the doctoral level in all aspects of Western Music including pe ...

, studying under

Gordan Nikolitch Gordan Nikolitch, also spelled Gordan Nikolić, (; born 1968) is a Franco-Serbian violinist. He was the first concertmaster of the London Symphony Orchestra for nearly 20 years, having stepped down in October 2017 to concentrate on directing and ...

and baroque violin with Adrian Butterfield. She has also studied with Christian Tetzlaff under the auspices of the Kronberg Academy Masters programme.

Career

After winning several international competitions, in 2002 Ibragimova won the

Music Scholarship (formerly the Shell Prize), an important early boost to her career. The next breakthrough came in 2005 when Ibragimova played and directed

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...

's second violin concerto with the

Kremerata Baltica Kremerata Baltica is a chamber orchestra consisting of musicians from Baltic countries (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania). It was founded by Latvian violinist Gidon Kremer in 1997. Gidon Kremer is an artistic director of Kremerata Baltica. Descript ...

in Mozartwoche at the Salzburg Mozarteum. Ibragimova was a member of the

BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists scheme BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists scheme (also known as the NGA scheme) was launched in 1999 by Adam Gatehouse as part of the BBC's commitment to young musical talent. Each autumn six or seven young artists at the beginning of careers on the ...

2005–7. She has performed concertos with the

, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, the

Philharmonia Orchestra The Philharmonia Orchestra is a British orchestra based in London. It was founded in 1945 by Walter Legge, a classical music record producer for EMI Classics, EMI. Among the conductors who worked with the orchestra in its early years were Rich ...

, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra,

BBC Symphony Orchestra The BBC Symphony Orchestra (BBC SO) is a British orchestra based in London. Founded in 1930, it was the first permanent salaried orchestra in London, and is the only one of the city's five major symphony orchestras not to be self-governing. The ...

, Radio-Sinfonie-Orchester Frankfurt, and the Seattle Symphony, working with conductors including Sir Charles Mackerras,

Valery Gergiev Valery Abisalovich Gergiev (, ; ; born 2 May 1953) is a Russian conducting, conductor and opera company director. He is currently general director and artistic director of the Mariinsky Theatre and of the Bolshoi Theatre and artistic director o ...

, Sir John Eliot Gardiner,

Paavo Järvi Paavo Järvi (; born 30 December 1962) is an Estonian conductor. He has been chief conductor of Zurich's Tonhalle since 2020. Early life Järvi was born in Tallinn, Estonia (then occupied by the Soviet Union), to Liilia Järvi and the Estoni ...

Richard Hickox Richard Sidney Hickox (5 March 1948 – 23 November 2008) was an English conductor of choral, orchestral and operatic music. Early life and education Hickox was born in Stokenchurch in Buckinghamshire into a musical family. After attending ...

and Osmo Vänskä. In 2005, Ibragimova formed the period-instrument Chiaroscuro Quartet, a string quartet specialising in music from the classical and early romantic periods played on gut strings with historical bows. Over the last seasons Alina has performed concertos with Budapest Festival Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, London Symphony, Philharmonia Orchestra, Gürzenich-Orchester and Dresden Philharmonic, working with Robin Ticciati, Edward Gardner, Daniel Harding, Nathalie Stutzmann, Vladimir Jurowski and Maxim Emelyanychev among others. In recital, Alina performs regularly at London´s Wigmore Hall, Berlin´s Pierre Boulez Saal, Hamburg´s Elbphilharmonie, Tokyo´s Metropolitan Theatre and the BBC Proms where she performed Bach´s Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin in the Royal Albert Hall. She frequently collaborates with pianist Cédric Tiberghien, and is a founding member of the Chiaroscuro Quartet.

Honours

Ibragimova has received a number of awards, including the

Royal Philharmonic Society The Royal Philharmonic Society (RPS) is a British music society, formed in 1813. Its original purpose was to promote performances of instrumental music in London. Many composers and performers have taken part in its concerts. It is now a memb ...

Young Artist Award 2010, and Emily Anderson Prize (the youngest-ever winner), Borletti-Buitoni Trust, and a Classical BRIT. She performs on a c.1775 Anselmo Bellosio provided by Georg von Opel. Ibragimova was awarded the 2019 RPS Instrumentalist Award. She was appointed a

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(MBE) in the 2016 New Year Honours for services to music.

Personal life

In 2015 Ibragimova married

Tom Service Tom Service (born 8 March 1976) is a Scottish writer, music journalist, and television and radio presenter. He has written regularly for ''The Guardian'' since 1999 and presented on BBC Radio 3 since 2001. He is a regular presenter of the Proms ...

, a writer and classical music critic, whom she met when he interviewed her for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

''. They lived in

Greenwich Greenwich ( , , ) is an List of areas of London, area in south-east London, England, within the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London, east-south-east of Charing Cross. Greenwich is notable for its maritime hi ...

, London. The couple divorced in 2018.

Selected discography

*https://alinaibragimova.com/recordings/ *

Georg Philipp Telemann Georg Philipp Telemann (; – 25 June 1767) was a German Baroque composer and multi-instrumentalist. He is one of the most prolific composers in history, at least in terms of surviving works. Telemann was considered by his contemporaries to b ...

: Fantasias for Solo Violin (

Hyperion Records Hyperion Records is a British classical music record label. It was independent until February 2023, when it was acquired by the Universal Music Group. Under Universal, Hyperion is one of the three main classical record labels, alongside Decca a ...

CDA68384, 2022) * Niccolo Paganini: 24 Caprices (

CDA68366, 2021) *

Johannes Brahms Johannes Brahms (; ; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor of the mid-Romantic period (music), Romantic period. His music is noted for its rhythmic vitality and freer treatment of dissonance, oft ...

: Violin Sonatas with Cédric Tiberghien, piano (

CDA68200, 2018) * Louis Vierne &

César Franck César Auguste Jean Guillaume Hubert Franck (; 10 December 1822 – 8 November 1890) was a French Romantic music, Romantic composer, pianist, organist, and music teacher born in present-day Belgium. He was born in Liège (which at the time of h ...

: Violin Sonatas with Cédric Tiberghien, piano (

CDA68204, 2018) *

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...

: Violin Sonatas K302, 380 & 526 with Cédric Tiberghien, piano (

CDA68175, 2016) *

: Violin Sonatas K305, 376 & 402 with Cédric Tiberghien, piano (

, CDA68092, 2016) *

: Violin Sonatas K301, 304, 379 & 481 with Cédric Tiberghien, piano (

, CDA68091, 2016) *

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (German: Help:IPA/Standard German, �joːhan zeˈbasti̯an baχ ( – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque music, Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety ...

: Violin Concertos with Arcangelo & Jonathan Cohen (conductor) (

, CDA68068, 2015) *Johann Sebastian Bach: Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin (Hyperion Records, CDA 67691/2, 2009) * Eugène Ysaÿe: Sonatas for solo violin (

, CDA67993, 2015) *

Felix Mendelssohn Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic music, Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions inc ...

Violin Concerto (Mendelssohn) Felix Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E minor, Opus number, Op. 64, Mendelssohn-Werkverzeichnis, MWV O 14, is his last concerto. It was well received at its premiere and has remained as one of the most prominent and highly-regarded violin conce ...

in E minor, Op 64, Violin Concerto in D minor with Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Vladimir Jurowski (

CDA67795, 2012)

References

External links

*
Askonas HoltColbert Artists Management Inc.Alina Ibragimova's artist page
on

website: includes audio samples
Hauser-Schmolck Public Relations for MusikChiaroscuro QuartetThe StradThe Guardian
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ibragimova, Alina 1985 births Living people Russian violinists Russian classical violinists Russian women violinists Gnessin State Musical College alumni Russian emigrants to the United Kingdom Alumni of the Royal College of Music Alumni of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama People educated at Yehudi Menuhin School Bashkir people Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom Members of the Order of the British Empire 21st-century classical violinists Russian women classical violinists 20th-century classical violinists 20th-century Russian women musicians 20th-century British musicians 21st-century British musicians 20th-century British women musicians 21st-century British women musicians British women classical violinists