Alena Baeva

Described as "a magnetic presence" and "a constantly fascinating sound technician" (New York Classical Review), violinist Alena Baeva is considered one of the most exciting, versatile, and alluring soloists active on the world stage today.
Baeva's career as an international soloist of the highest renown has grown at an extraordinary pace over recent seasons. Highlights of the 2022/2023 and 2023/2024 seasons include debuts with the Alte Oper Frankfurt, Ensemble Resonanz, Göteborgs Symfoniker, Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, New York Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre National de Lyon, and the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, as well as returns to such leading ensembles as the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Gävle Symfoniorkester, Orchestre National de Lille, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Tonkünstler-Orchester.
She now enjoys a particularly strong artistic partnership with Paavo Järvi, with whom recent and future collaborations include performances with the Estonian Festival Orchestra, New York Philharmonic Orchestra, NHK Symphony Orchestra Tokyo, and the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich.

Another such regular collaborative partnership is that with Vladimir Jurowski, with whom Baeva has both recorded and performed on numerous occasions, including with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, and Moscow's Russian State Symphony Orchestra 'Evgeny Svetlanov'. Baeva also enjoys regular work with such world-renowned conductors as Teodor Currentzis, Charles Dutoit, Marek Janowski, and Tomáš Netopil.
Chamber music has always held a special place in Baeva's musical life. She has the pleasure of collaborating with such esteemed artists as Martha Argerich, Yuri Bashmet, Steven Isserlis, Daishin Kashimoto, Misha Maisky, Lawrence Power, Julian Steckel, and Yeol-Eum Son. Her regular sonata partner is the celebrated Ukrainian pianist Vadym Kholodenko (2013 Van Cliburn Winner), with whom she has established a dedicated musical partnership of more than a decade.
Baeva holds an already vast and rapidly expanding repertoire, including over forty violin concerti, and is a champion of lesser known works – with recent performances promoting such composers as Bacewicz, Karaev, and Karłowicz, alongside the more mainstream violin literature. She enjoys a lasting relationship with the Orchestra of the XVIII Century, performing and recording a variety of repertoire on period instruments. Their 2022 recording release (Wieniawski Violin Concerto No.2) was crowned as 'Recording of the Month' by BBC Music Magazine, who declared it to be "essential listening".
Baeva's wider discography is extensive, and reflects the impressive breadth of her repertoire – with recordings ranging from Szymanowski (for DUX), to Debussy, Poulenc, and Prokofiev (for SIMC), and more. Her Paris performance of Shostakovich Violin Concerto No.2 features as part of the Mariinsky Theatre/Valery Gergiev box-set DVD collection, released by Arthaus Musik in 2015. In 2018, she made a recording of both the Karłowicz Violin Concerto with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (for NIFC), and of the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto with London Philharmonic Orchestra/Vladimir Jurowski, to be released on the LPO Live label. 2020 saw the release of her recording of the Schumann Violin Concerto and the original (1844) version of the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in E minor – released worldwide on Melodiya Records and receiving wide-spread critical acclaim.
Born in Russia to a musical family, Baeva took her first violin lessons at the age of five under renowned pedagogue Olga Danilova, before going on to study in Moscow with Professor Eduard Grach at the Central School of Music and the State Tchaikovsky Conservatoire. In addition to her formal education, she studied in France with Mstislav Rostropovich, in Switzerland with Seiji Ozawa, in Israel with Shlomo Mintz (at Keshet Eilon Music Center), and in Paris with Boris Garlitsky. Aged 16, Baeva won the Grand Prix at the 12th International Henryk Wieniawski Competition (2001), as well as the Prize for Best Performance of a Contemporary Work. Following this, she went on to take the Grand Prix at the Moscow International Niccolò Paganini Competition (2004), including a Special Prize allowing her to perform on the 1723 Wieniawski Stradivari for one year, and was awarded both the Gold Medal and the Audience Prize at the Sendai International Violin Competition (2007).

Alena Baeva plays on the "ex-William Kroll" Guarneri del Gesù of 1738 – on generous loan from an anonymous patron, with the kind assistance of J&A Beares.