Performer (violinist), teacher, composer.
He was born in Saratov, and in 1957 his family moved to Leningrad. In 1971 he graduated from the Special Music School of the Leningrad Conservatory in both violin and composition, and in the same year entered the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory, from which he graduated in 1979, completing postgraduate studies there in 1983 in the class of Professor L. B. Kogan.
From 1979 to 1982 he taught at the Music College in Elektrostal (Moscow Region), from 1983 to 1992 at the Gnesin State Music College, returning to the String Department in 1990, and from 1984 to 1991 at the Central Music School at the Moscow Conservatory.
Since 1987 he has taught in the Violin Department headed by S. I. Kravchenko at the Moscow Conservatory, as well as in the Violin and Viola Department at the Gnesin Russian Academy of Music.
He is a laureate of the All-Union Violin Competition (2nd prize, 1981; 1st prize not awarded).
In 1978 he performed in Sviatoslav Richter’s chamber concerts alongside Oleg Kagan, Natalia Gutman, Yuri Bashmet and others. Since 1989 he has toured in Germany, Italy, Belgium, the United Kingdom, Finland, South Korea, Japan, the Netherlands, Taiwan and other countries. From 1984 to 1994 V. G. Igolinsky was a solo violinist with the Mosconcert Philharmonic Association. His repertoire includes almost all the major violin works of J. S. Bach, L. Beethoven, J. Brahms, H. Wieniawski and S. Prokofiev, virtuoso pieces and works by over seventy composers, as well as more than fifty concertos with orchestra from Vivaldi to Sofia Gubaidulina.
V. G. Igolinsky has given the first performances of the following violin concertos:
- I. Golubev, Concerto for Two Violins and Orchestra;
- M. Libman, Violin Concerto;
- T. Sergeyeva, Concerto for Violin and Keyboard;
- A. Rybnikov, Poem for Violin and Orchestra;
- A. Eshpai, Violin Concerto No. 4;
- E. Podgaits, Violin Concerto No. 2;
- V. Ryabov, Concerto for Three Violins and Keyboard;
- A. Mosolov, Violin Concerto in an orchestration by Yuri Kasparov;
- V. Artemov, «In memoriam», concerto-symphony for violin and orchestra;
- G. Chernov, concerto-symphony for violin and orchestra and Concerto grosso for violin, viola and orchestra;
- V. Yekimovsky, Violin Concerto.
Several works by S. Wolfensohn, T. Sergeyeva, V. Ryabov and M. Gagnidze were written especially for V. G. Igolinsky and dedicated to him.
His piano repertoire includes works by J. S. Bach, W. A. Mozart, L. Beethoven, F. Chopin, R. Schumann, Yu. Falik, V. Ryabov and others, as well as his own compositions.
V. G. Igolinsky is also active as a pedagogue and educator, giving regular masterclasses in former Yugoslavia, Croatia, Germany, South Korea and Moscow, as well as open lessons and seminars in many Russian cities.
He serves on the juries of several competitions, including:
- International Violin Competition in Volgograd (2000);
- International Gnesin Junior Violin Competition in Moscow (on a regular basis);
- The Delphic Games competitions.
Among his students are international prizewinners M. Gavrilenko, A. Sych, A. Denisova, G. Levin and I. Ageyeva.
