ALEXANDER IVASHKIN, FESTIVAL ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
As a soloist Alexander Ivashkin has performed in more than forty countries. He is a regular guest at many important music festivals in Europe, the United States, Japan, Australia and New Zealand, and has performed as soloist with leading orchestras all over the world. He has performed at major venues such as the Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Barbican Centre and Wigmore Hall, London, Symphony Hall, Birmingham, Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, Musikhalle, Hamburg, Dvorak Hall, Prague, Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory and Philharmonic Hall, St Petersburg. Along with Mstislav Rostropovich and Natalia Gutman he is one of the cellists, for whom Alfred Schnittke composed, and he has recorded the complete works for cello by Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Rachmaninov, Schnittke, Kancheli, Roslavets and Tcherepnin on the Chandos, Naxos , Brilliant Classics, Megadisc and BMG labels. A Professor of Music, Director of the Centre for Russian Music and Head of Performance Studies at the University of London,
Alexander Ivashkin has been Artistic Director of the Adam International Cello Festival and Competition in New Zealand ( since 1995) and of annual festivals in London.
Alexander Ivashkin is also well known as a conductor. He conducts orchestras and choruses in Great Britain, Russia, Australia , New Zealand, Canada, Armenia, and Azerbajzhan. He is New Zealand citizen, and lived and worked in NZ in 1990s.