RISING STAR - GREAT ARTISTS OF TOMORROW

BBC Music Magazine, January 2010
Interview by Rebecca Franks

Since performing with conductor Valery Gergiev, the 20-year-old Russian-American's career has been on a high.

Violinist Eugene Ugorski isn’t afraid of a challenge. At the age of eight, just two years after first picking up a violin, he made his concerto debut with the San Diego Symphony Orchestra in front of more than 3,000 people. 'For me this was part of a regular day,' says the Russian-American violinist, now 20. Just everyone was much taller than me.' At 15, Ugorski was equally undaunted when conductor Valery Gergiev gave him a call and invited him to play the Tchaikovsky Concerto at the Moscow Easter Festival. 'It was a lot of fun,' he recalls. And from then my career took an upward, very different direction.'

Since that concert in 2005, the phone hasn't stopped ringing - this season alone sees Ugorski make seven orchestral debuts around the world. 'With the Bournemouth Symphony, I'm playing Paganini's First Violin Concerto, which I’ve played since I was 11,' he says. 'Plus I love all the Russian concertos - Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Glazunov and Tchaikovsky, which I play everywhere.'

For the past five years, Ugorski has played a 1753 Guadagnini violin. 'It's extraordinary, one of the best Guadagninis in the world,' he explains. 'It has a unique and sophisticated sound, in both the soprano and lower registers. I adore this violin and I’ve played all my major concerts with it.'

Born into a musical family - his father was a flautist with the Leningrad Philharmonic, his mother a pianist - Ugorski has always been set on a career as a violinist. Today, Ugorski still learns with his first teacher, Vesna Gruppman, as well as with Vesna's husband Igor. And it's through Igor that Ugorski has a direct link to one of his greatest inspirations: violinist Jascha Heifetz. 'Igor learned with Heifetz and I learned the Russian - Heifetz - school of playing from him. All the old masters - Heifetz, Nathan Milstein, David Oistrakh - play in the ideal way.'

Ugorski loves life as an international soloist - 'this is what I'm made for!' - but he wouldn't rule out a spot of conducting in the future. 'Everybody loves to conduct,' he explains. 'But I'd need the same passion, dedication and sacrifice I've had and made for the violin for 15 years. Someday, I'd love to. But at the moment I see myself as Eugene Ugorski, violinist.'

Back to Top

NEW DVD RELEASE

In 2009, Eugene Ugorski recorded a DVD with his recital partner Konstantin Lifschitz on the VAI label.

Click here to watch an extract from the 4th movement of Brahms Sonata No.3 in D minor, Op.108.

Click here to watch an extract from the 1st movement of Richard Strauss Sonata in E flat major, Op.18.

Click here to watch an extract from Tchaikovsky Melodie, from Souvenir d'un lieu cher, Op.42.

Back to Top