About
Canadian violinist and composer Stanislav Pronin was born in Moscow, Russia and began his violin studies upon his immigration to Israel at the age of 8. His first teacher was his grandfather, Veniamin Pronin, a student of Pyotr Stoliarskiy and former Professor at the Odessa Conservatoire. Stanislav continued his studies at Indiana University with Nelli Shkolnikova and Jaime Laredo, as well as composition lessons with Professor Sven-David Sandstrom, and later at the Hochschule für Musik Köln, Germany, with Professor Zakhar Bron.
Stanislav’s professional career began following his solo debut in Israel at the age of 10. He has performed as soloist and chamber musician at many festivals including Verbier Festival and Interlaken Classics in Switzerland, Banff Festival and Stratford Festival in Canada, Kronberg Festival in Germany, Skanderborg Festival in Denmark, etc. He performs regularly in USA, Canada, Europe and Scandinavia in such venues as Carnegie Hall, Miller Theatre, Musikhuset Aarhus, National Arts Centre Ottawa, Perlman Theatre in Philadelphia, Berlin Waldbühne, Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, KKL Luzern, Salzburg Festspiele, Paris Philharmonie, Royal Festival Hall in London and so on. He has collaborated with numerous conductors including Daniel Barenboim, Leonard Slatkin, Antonio Mendez, Sigiswald Kuijken, Andrew Constantine and Joshua Weilerstein. As chamber musician, he has collaborated with Jan Lisiecki, Jaime Laredo, James Campbell, Mark Kaplan, Bion Tsang, Orion String Quartet, Victor Danchenko, Julian Milkis, Anton Nel, Emille Naoumoff and Lera Auerbach. Stanislav has also been Primarius of the Toronto-based Annex Quartet since 2012. Recent activities in Canada have included recitals at the Koerner Hall in Vancouver (“Music in the Morning” concert series), as well as the 2016 Debut Atlantic tour.
Just as his grandfather who, in his time, had worked closely with numerous composers, including Dmitry Shostakovich, Stanislav is an avid performer of new music. He has worked with and premiered works of such composers as John Adams, Fabian Panisello, Murray Schafer, Ned Rorem, Toivo Tulev, Hans Abrahamsen and Lera Auerbach.
As far as recent composition projects are concerned, Stanislav recorded his new solo violin cycle “In Solitude – 7 Impressions” at CBC in Toronto in July, 2015. He also completed his sonata for two violins, written for Jeanne Marie Conquer of the Ensemble Intercontemporain, and recorded it with her in January, 2016, at Cite de la Musique in Paris. His work for soprano and piano entitled “4 Songs, In Memory of Marina Tsvetaeva” and written for soprano Lyubov Petrova was recorded in March of 2016 in New York.
Stanislav’s recordings and performances, including his solo CD debut on Naxos/Sono Luminus labels, have been broadcasted on numerous radio and television channels including WDR Köln, RTS-1 Belgrade, CBC Canada, Radio Klassisk Denmark, Interlochen Public Radio, WFMT Chicago Classical, etc. He has also recorded for Decca and Dacapo labels as soloist and Concertmaster of the Aarhus Symphony Orchestra. Stanislav is a recipient of multiple awards from such organization as the American String Teachers Association, America-Israel Cultural Foundation, Canada Council for the Arts and Classical Artists Development Foundation. He is a laureate of numerous international competitions, including Michael Hill, Wieniawski, and Queen Elizabeth.
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“It is not often that you hear such individuality as you do in[Pronin’s] playing. Outstanding technical virtuosity, veryimaginative and convincing interpretation.”- Leonard Slatkin
"Pronin attaches ‘extramusical imagery’ to the piece, and writes of ‘dancing snowflake patterns, shiny and brilliant yet quite delicate’. It’s a window on Prokofiev’s Russian soul, and Pronin’s own."
- The Gramophone
"I enjoyed listening to [Stanislav's] solo violin (almost solo!!) CD very much! I don't think I ever imagined that I wouldn't get bored listening to a solo violinist. Bravo!"- Vladimir Ashkenazy