PRESS RELEASE
Novosibirsk-born violinist Vadim Repin, 39, has been made a Chevalier of the French Order of Arts and Letters. The honour was conferred at the weekend following a recital in the Salle Pleyel, Paris, by Laurent Bayle, director-general of the Cité de la Musique, on behalf of the French Minister of Culture. Bayle paid tribute to Repin’s unique sound, his dedication and artistry, and his fidelity to the high standards of musicianship set by two of his greatest mentors, Mstislav Rostropovich and Yehudi Menuhin, both members of the same distinguished French Order during their lifetimes. Vadim Repin made his French debut at the age of 13, and has performed in France regularly for over a quarter of a century. He started to play the violin at the age of five and six months later had his first stage performance. At eleven he won the gold medal in all age categories in the Wienawski Competition and gave his recital debuts in Moscow and St Petersburg. In 1985 at fourteen he made his debuts in Tokyo, Munich, Berlin, Helsinki; a year later in Carnegie Hall. Two years later Vadim Repin was the youngest ever winner of the most prestigious and demanding violin competition in the world, the Reine Elisabeth Concours. Since then he has performed with all the world’s greatest orchestras and conductors. Last season featured concerts with Muti in New York, with Thielemann in Tokyo, with Chailly in Leipzig, a tour of Australia with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Vladimir Jurowski, and the unanimously acclaimed première of a violin concerto written for him by James MacMillan and performed with the London Symphony Orchestra and Valery Gergiev. Earlier this year he was awarded the Victoire d’Honneur, the French recording industry’s most prestigious musical award for a lifetime’s dedication to music.
