Vladimir Ashkenazy has often been quoted as saying that for him music is indivisible.

This con-
viction is borne out by his passionate engagement with so many different aspects of music-mak-
ing, whether as conductor, piano recitalist or chamber musician or as the architect of large-scale
projects encompassing the full range of musical activities.

The first part of his long life as a musician was devoted to the piano. Building on the foundation
of his studies at the Central School of Music and Moscow Conservatoire and his success in win-
ning second prize at the Chopin Competition in Warsaw in 1955 and first prizes in the Queen
Elisabeth Competition in Brussels in 1956 and the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1962,
he spent three decades touring the great musical centres of the world, performing an ever-grow-
ing repertoire in recitals and concerts and appearing with chamber music partners such as
Itzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zukerman, Lynn Harrell, Elisabeth Soederstroem, Barbara Bonney and
Matthias Goerne. During this time, he built up one of the largest and most comprehensive re-
cording catalogues of our day, encompassing almost all the major works of the piano repertoire.

From the 1970s onwards, he became increasingly active as a conductor and held positions over
the years with the Philharmonia Orchestra (Principal Guest Conductor), Royal Philharmonic Or-
chestra (Music Director), Cleveland Orchestra (Principal Guest Conductor) and the Deutsches
Symphonie-Orchester Berlin (Chief Conductor and Music Director). In addition, he made guest
appearances with some of the world's finest orchestras including the Berlin Philharmonic, Bo-
ston Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Philadelphia and Concert-
gebouw Orchestras.

From 1998 to 2003 Ashkenazy held the position of Chief Conductor of the Czech Philharmonic
Orchestra, with whom he undertook a broad range of tours, recordings and special projects in-
cluding a major Prokofiev-Shostakovich series in Cologne, New York and Vienna in spring 2003.

His continuing close relationship with the Philharmonia Orchestra, of which he is now Conductor
Laureate, has resulted in a number of high profile projects in London and abroad, including a
three-concert Rachmaninoff Festival at Lincoln Center in New York, a tour of Moscow and Japan
in Autumn 2002, and in Spring 2003 a four-concert series at the South Bank marking the 50th an-
niversary of Prokofiev’s death and exploring the relationship between the music of both
Prokofiev and Shostakovich and communist dictatorship. 2003 sees them on the road again with
a major tour including Australia, Taiwan and Singapore.

Vladimir Ashkenazy will become the NHK Symphony Orchestra’s Music Director at the beginning
of the 2004/05 season, and in the preceding season he will act as the orchestra’s Music Advisor.
Plans already underway include a short tour of Europe in July 2004.

Ashkenazy also holds the positions of Music Director of the European Union Youth Orchestra,
with whom he tours each season, and Conductor Laureate of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra.

Vladimir Ashkenazy also continues to perform as pianist throughout Europe, Asia and America
and to add to his recording catalogue with major releases such as the recent critically-acclaimed
complete Shostakovich Preludes & Fugues, winner of the 1999 Grammy Award for Best Instru-
mental Soloist Performance (without orchestra).