Nemanja Radulovic

Gramophone magazine has praised his "superb technique and exquisite tone" as well as his "unfettered spirit" – the French-Serbian violinist Nemanja Radulović stands in the grand tradition of virtuosos and is one of those rare artists who are open to the full spectrum of human emotions and can convey them through their instrument. Life's joys and sorrows find diverse expression in his playing. It is his mission to expand the boundaries of classical music and reach people of all ages and diverse backgrounds, and he has succeeded in attracting many new listeners and opening up fresh insights into the violin repertoire. "I don't try to give history lessons or a lesson in violin playing," he says. "I just want people to feel real emotions through my music." Nemanja Radulović achieved his international breakthrough when he stepped in for Maxim Vengerov in 2006 and thrilled critics as a soloist in Beethoven's Violin Concerto with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and Myung-Whun Chung. The following year, he made his recital debut at Carnegie Hall as part of the "Rising Stars" series and received "stormy ovations," as the New York Times wrote. Over the past seasons, he has performed with many leading international orchestras, including the Munich Philharmonic, the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal. Recent highlights include a critically acclaimed residency with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra (2016/17), Barber's Violin Concerto with the Orchestre national d’Île de France and Alexandre Bloch at the Philharmonie de Paris (March 2017), Bruch's Violin Concerto No. 1 with Simone Young and the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo (June 2017), Prokofiev's Violin Concerto No. 2 with Eiji Oue and the Orchestra della Toscana in Tuscany (February 2018), and Khachaturian's Violin Concerto with Sascha Goetzel and the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra (March 2018), as well as a European tour with the I, CULTURE Orchestra, which included performances at the Festival Radio France in Montpellier and the Tivoli Concert Hall in Copenhagen (July 2018). As a passionate chamber musician, Radulović has performed in leading international concert halls: Carnegie Hall in New York, Salle Pleyel and Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris, Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, and Melbourne Recital Centre. His latest musical partners include clarinetist Andreas Ottensamer, accordionist Ksenija Sidorova, and pianist Laure Favre-Kahn, with whom he has performed at the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, Gstaad Menuhin Festival, Festival du Périgord Noir, and Impérial Annecy Festival. In 2014, Radulović signed an exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon. Journey East, his first international album for the yellow label, was released in February 2015 and was awarded an ECHO prize. The album, which the artist dedicated to his mother and is full of personal references, featured works rooted in Eastern Europe, including music by Brahms, Dvořák, and Khachaturian. In October 2016, the album Bach followed, in which Radulović can be heard as a violin and viola soloist. He plays J. S. Bach's Double Concerto in D minor and his Concerto for Violin and String Orchestra in A minor, Henri Casadesus' Viola Concerto in C minor in the style of Johann Christian Bach, as well as new arrangements of popular pieces by J. S. Bach. On his next DG album, Tchaikovsky, released in September 2017, he played the composer's Violin Concerto as well as his Rococo Variations, in a new arrangement for viola and chamber orchestra. Radulović's latest album, Baïka, was released on November 9, 2018. It features Khachaturian's Violin Concerto and his Trio for Clarinet, Violin, and Piano; a new symphonic suite by Aleksandar Sedlar after Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade; and Sedlar's Savcho 3, inspired by traditional melodies from the Black Sea coast. Radulović's earlier recordings include Mendelssohn's Violin Concertos with the Prague Chamber Orchestra; works by Kreisler, Sarasate, Schubert, Wieniawski, Tartini, and Vitali with his ensemble The Devil’s Trills; Les 5 Saisons, an album with works by Vivaldi and Aleksandar Sedlar with his other ensemble, Double Sens; Beethoven's Violin Sonatas with his regular duo partner Susan Manoff; and an all-Paganini album, released by Deutsche Grammophon France in 2013 and selected as an "Editor's Choice" by Gramophone. Nemanja Radulović was born in Niš, then part of Yugoslavia, in 1985. He began playing the violin at the age of seven and showed remarkable talent for the instrument. Encouraged by his musical family, he attended the local music school, where it was recognized that he possessed perfect pitch. He then completed the entire three-year curriculum within two weeks. Just six months after first picking up a violin, he made his public debut as a soloist in a Vivaldi concerto. Music was always the lifeblood for him and his family, in happy times and during the difficult years of the Balkan Wars. "My mother was a doctor. She did humanitarian work on the front lines, saving lives, so the war was very present for us," Radulović recalls. "Music helped us maintain a normal life and gave us real happiness. That's when I first recognized the power of music. I have never forgotten that." In the late 1990s, Radulović studied with Joshua Epstein at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Saarbrücken and with Dejan Mihailović at the University of Arts in Belgrade. Shortly after his 14th birthday, he moved with his family to Paris, where he studied at the Conservatoire with the esteemed violinist Patrice Fontanarosa. In 2001, he won first prize at the International George Enescu Competition, and two years later, he was the winner of the International Joseph Joachim Violin Competition in Hanover. At the prestigious Victoires de la musique classique in Paris, he was honored in 2005 in the "International Discovery of the Year" category, and nine years later, he received the "Instrumental Soloist of the Year" award there. In 2015, he won the ECHO prize as "Young Artist of the Year" (for Journey East). Highlights of Nemanja Radulović's 2018/19 season include a recital tour of Japan and Korea with Laure Favre-Kahn; performances of the Khachaturian Concerto – a key work of this season – with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Vasily Petrenko; a Bach/Vivaldi program with the Stuttgarter Philharmoniker and Dan Ettinger in Italy and Germany; further performances of the Khachaturian Concerto with the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra and Sascha Goetzel in Germany, the Netherlands, and France; as well as appearances with the ensemble Double Sens in France and Switzerland. 11/2018