Ashkenazy, Vladimir (1937-…), a Soviet-born pianist and conductor, ranks among the finest piano soloists of his generation. He gained fame for the warmth and delicacy of his style. Ashkenazy has been praised for his interpretations of such Russian composers as Sergei Prokofiev, Sergei Rachmaninoff, and Alexander Scriabin. He also specializes in the piano music of Ludwig van Beethoven, Johannes Brahms, Frédéric Chopin, Franz Liszt, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Franz Schubert, and Robert Schumann.
Ashkenazy was music director of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London from 1987 to 1994 and principal guest conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra from 1987 to 1994. He was music director of the German Symphony Orchestra Berlin (formerly the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra) from 1989 to 1999. He served as director of the Czech Philharmonic from 1998 to 2003. Ashkenazy became music director of the European Union Youth Orchestra in 2000 and music director of the NHK Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo in 2004.
Vladimir Davidovich Ashkenazy was born on July 6, 1937, in Gorki in the Soviet Union (now Nizhniy Novgorod, Russia). He made his performing debut when he was 8 years old and attended the Moscow Conservatory. Ashkenazy married Thorunn Johannsdottir, an Icelandic pianist, in 1961. He left the Soviet Union in 1963 and lived in England until 1968, when he settled in Iceland. He became an Icelandic citizen in 1972.
