Students from Friend's International Violin Academy perform in a masterclass setting for world renowned violinist and pedagogue Joel Smirnoff (observer tickets available)
Conductor, violinist and pedagogue Joel Smirnoff, a native of New York City, performed on four continents over 23 years as member of the Juilliard String Quartet. With an extensive catalog of solo recordings, including the world premiere recordings of numerous 20th century works by composers as diverse as Louis Gruenberg and Joan Tower, Mr. Smirnoff has held the positions of President of the Cleveland Institute of Music and Chair of the Violin Faculty of The Juilliard School, New York.
Prize winner of the International American Music Competition for Violin, Mr. Smirnoff was awarded debuts at Carnegie Hall on its Emerging Artists series and at Town Hall on its Midtown Masters series. Mr. Smirnoff was concerto soloist in summer of 1998 at Tanglewood, performing the Berg Violin Concerto under the direction of Bernard Haitink in a special memorial concert dedicated to violinist Louis Krasner.
Now also a highly acclaimed conductor with an impressive and wide-ranging repertoire, Mr. Smirnoff made his official American conducting debut with the San Francisco Symphony in July, 2000, and has since been in demand across the US, working with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Phoenix Symphony, the Louisiana Philharmonic, the Chicago Philharmonic, the New World Symphony and others and in Europe, with the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra, Basel Sinfonietta and the Kuopio (Finland) Symphony; in Japan, the Saito Kinen Orchestra in Matsumoto, in Korea, the Busan Festival Orchestra and in China, the Beijing Symphony Orchestra.
In demand as a jury member, Mr. Smirnoff has served on the juries of the Naumburg, Seoul, Bartok, Indianapolis and Sendai Violin Competitions.
He received the Lifetime Grammy Award in 2011 for his many recordings with the Juilliard String Quartet and was honoured that same year with the Alumni Professional Achievement Award from the University of Chicago, his Alma Mater.
Mr. Smirnoff also plays jazz and has appeared frequently as improvising violinist with the great jazz singer Tony Bennett in concert on and on TV. His improvised solo on 'Fly me to the moon' can be seen on 'Tony Bennett live by request' and two improvised jazz solos can be heard on the Grammy award-winning CD “'ony Bennett sings Ellington Hot and Cool'. He has also been guest soloist with Gunther Schuller and the American Jazz Orchestra, and the Billy Taylor Trio.
Our FIVA Masterclass series will be presented by an incredible line up of Internationally renowned violinists including: Pinchas Zukerman, Rodney Friend, Augustin Hadelich, Cihat Askin, Cho-Liang Lin, Joel Smirnoff and Yuzuko Horigome. Friend's International Violin Academy / Masterclass Series (30th July-5th August 2020)