Berlin-based russian violinist Julia Smirnova has been nominated for the "Opus Klassik 2022"
award in the category "Young Artist of the Year".
She is a winner of national and international violin competitions such as: III Vladimir Spivakov International Violin Competition (2021), Ibolyka Gyarfas Foundation Violin Competition (2021),
VIII. National String Competition in Tver, Russia (2013) and "Masur" Violin Competition in St.-Petersburg (2015).
In 2018 she was awarded a scholarship of the "Yehudi Menuhin - Live Music Now" association in Berlin.
Julia has been invited to numerous festivals, including the Eggenfelden Klassisch, California
International Music Festival in Engers, the Randspiele and Klangwerkstatt Festivals in Berlin, the
Diaghilev Festival in Perm, Russia, the Encuentro de Musica y Academia in Santander, Spain, the
Arosa Festival in Switzerland.
She was born (1997) in Komsomolsk on Amur and received her first instruction on the violin at the
age of five with Olga Sopova at music school in her hometown. At the age of seven Julia won 1st
prize at a national competition in Khabarovsk. After the success, the family moved to Moscow in
order to enable her to receive extensive training with Prof. Galina Turchaninova at the special music
school of the Moscow Conservatory. In 2017 she began her studies at the Hanns Eisler University
of music in Berlin, first with Prof. Antje Weithaas and since 2019 with Prof. Stephan Picard.
Julia received further valuable impulses through international masterclasses with Thomas
Zehetmair, Maxim Vengerov, Michaela Martin, Ingolf Turban, Natalia Prischepenko, Grigory Kalinovsky,
Yu Yamei, Ilona Sie Dhian Ho, as well as in collaboration with Frans Helmerson and Nabuko Imai and from Prof. Pavel Vernikov at the Kronberg Academy.
In 2021 Julia Smirnova received the DAAD award as Best foreign student at the Hanns Eisler
University of music in Berlin. The prize is awarded for outstanding artistic achievements as well as
special social and intercultural commitment.
Julia Smirnova plays a violin by Antonio Gragnani from 1790.
Cellist Konstantin Manaev is regarded as one of the most versatile and sought-after artists of his generation. He regularly performs as soloist in concert halls throughout Europe.
Konstantin’s repertoire is extraordinarily broad, encompassing works from the earliest Baroque to contemporary music.
In 2019 on invitation of Maestro Teodor Currentzis, Konstantin became principal cellist of Currentzis’ ensemble MusicAeterna.
Konstantin Manaev has been nominated twice for the OPUS KLASSIK 2022 awards in the categories “Young Talent of the Year” and “Best Chamber Music Recording of the Year” for his two new albums (“Love Stories” with pianist Danae Dörken and “The Songs of Our Neighbours” with violinist Julia Smirnova).
Many modern composers have dedicated new works to Konstantin including the well known Austrian composer Johanna Doderer, whos cello concerto he premiered this year.
Konstantin has won numerous international music competitions and regularly plays as a soloist with renowned orchestras in Europe.
According to Remy Franck of Luxembourg’s Pizzicato Magazine, “Manaev is a sovereign master of his instrument and able to call from it all possibilities of virtuosity, impulsiveness, intensity and lyrical smoothness.”
The current season brings the world premiere recording of a double concerto for cello and violin by Australian composer and conductor Gordon Hamilton, concerts with Signum Saxophone Quartet at Alte Oper Frankfurt and at the Stradivari Festival in Cremona, as well as his solo debut with the Düsseldorf Symphony Orchestra.
Konstantin plays a cello by Johannes Theodorus Cuypers (1762).