User:Einsameblumen1848/Philip A. Draganov

Philip A. Draganov (*June 25th, 1978) is a German violinist, pedagogue and conductor. He is professor for violin at the Academy of the Arts in Bern, Switzerland (HKB) and teaches a violin class at the Zurich University of the Arts (precollege section) as well as a class of highly talented young violinists at the Zurich conservatory (MKZ). Draganov is a member of the “European String Teachers’ Association” and jury member at various international violin competitions.

Musical education
After taking private lessons with Roland Greutter in Hamburg, Draganov received his musical education with Uwe-Martin Haiberg at the Julius Stern Institute of the Berlin University of the Arts and then studied at the Juilliard School in New York with Margaret Pardee, Masao Kawasaki, Robert Chen and chamber music with Felix Galimir. Back in Europe he then studied with Herman Krebbers in Amsterdam, Ida Bieler in Düsseldorf, Jens Ellermann in Hanover and Nora Chastain in Zurich. He received important impulses during master classes with Ana Chumachenco, Thomas Brandis and Rosa Fain as well as with Hatto Beyerle (Alban Berg Quartet) with the string quartet.

Besides of his work as a violinist, Draganov completed his musical education as a conductor at the Zurich University of the Arts.

At the age of 10, Draganov became the first prize winner at the national music competition (“Jugend musiziert”) in Germany. In the following years, he won numerous awards and competitions and received the scholarship from the Oscar and Vera Ritter Foundation a.o.. At the age of 12, he made his debut as a soloist with the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra in Hamburg's Laeiszhalle and has since performed in some of the worlds most renowned concert halls, such as the Carnegie Hall in New York, the Beijing Concert Hall, the Tonhalle in Zurich and many more.

Projects
As a sought-after chamber musician, Draganov regularly plays in changing formations from duos to octets. Besides solo performances, recitals and chamber music concerts, Draganov is regularly invited by major orchestras as concertmaster or section leader.

Since 2010, Philip A. Draganov has been the artistic director of the YOUTH CLASSICS Swiss International Music Academy (SIMA), where he teaches and performs together with artists such as Ana Chumachenco, Nora Chastain, Ulf Wallin, Pavel Vernikov, Thomas Grossenbacher, Volker Jacobsen, Andreas Janke, Jens Peter Maintz, Troels Svane, Igor Ozim and Thomas Selditz. His students and former students are winners of numerous national and international violin competitions, perform as soloists or have positions in leading European orchestras. As a guest lecturer, he gives master classes in Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, South Korea, the USA, Ukraine and Russia, as well as at various universities such as the renowned “Rimsky-Korsakov” Conservatory in St. Petersburg or the “Tblisi State Conservatory” in Georgia.

Over the last 15 years, Philip A. Draganov’s projects as a conductor have formed a significant part of his artistic work. He has collaborated with the Karlsbad Symphony Orchestra in the Czech Republic, the Zurich Chamber Orchestra and members of the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra and regularly conducts the PreCollege Orchestra of the Zurich University of the Arts (PCOZ). He is the music director of the YOUTH CLASSICS Orchestra, which he has conducted on numerous occasions such as the “Art on Ice” in the Zurich Hallenstadion, in the Spirgarten Theater in Zurich and in the Zurich Tonhalle. This orchestra consists of music college students and a few selected young talents from the precollege section. Draganov is guest conductor at international festivals such as the “Seongnam Music Festival” in South Korea. His experience as a conductor includes a large diversity of symphonic and choral-symphonic repertoire.

The soloists with whom he has performed include Khatia Buniatishvili, Andrei Ioniță, Oliver Schnyder and Teo Gheorghiu.

Draganov plays a violin by the Italian violin maker Tommaso Balestrieri from 1769 as well as modern instruments by Stephan von Baehr (Hamburg) and Stefan-Peter Greiner (Zurich). CD recordings have been released by Acustica Records and Solo Musica.

He lives with his family near Zurich.

Weblinks

 * https://www.draganov.ch/