Nemanja Radulovic

Life’s joys and sorrows receive rich expression in the music-making of Nemanja Radulović. The Franco-Serbian violinist stands in the great tradition of virtuoso performers, one of those rare artists open to the full range of human emotions and communicating them through his instrument. Radulović’s desire to broaden the boundaries of classical music and reach audiences of all ages and backgrounds has attracted many new listeners and offered fresh insights into the violin’s repertoire. Born in 1985 in Niš, then part of Yugoslavia, Radulović was introduced to the violin at the age of seven and showed remarkable aptitude for the instrument. Encouraged by his musical family, he went to a local music school where it was discovered that he possessed perfect pitch. He completed the school’s three-year training programme within the space of two weeks. Six months after holding a violin for the first time, he made his public debut as soloist. In the late 1990s, Radulović took lessons from Joshua Epstein at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Saarbrücken and from Dejan Mihailović at the Faculty of Arts and Music in Belgrade. Soon after his 14th birthday, he moved with his family to Paris, where he studied with renowned French violinist Patrice Fontanarosa at the Conservatoire de Paris and in 2001, won first prize at the George Enescu International Competition, storming to victory two years later at the Joseph Joachim International Competition in Hanover. He was named International Revelation of the Year at the prestigious Victoires de la musique classique awards in Paris in 2005 and nine years later, he returned to accept their Instrumental Soloist of the Year award. Radulović made his international breakthrough in 2006 when he replaced Maxim Vengerov as soloist in a critically acclaimed performance of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and Myung-Whun Chung. He gave his recital debut at Carnegie Hall the following year as part of the international Rising Stars scheme and has gone on to appear with many of the world’s leading orchestras, such as the Münchner Philharmoniker, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Orchestre symphonique de Montréal. Highlights include a critically acclaimed residency with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, performances with the Orchestre national d’Île de France and Alexandre Bloch at the Philharmonie de Paris, with Simone Young and the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo, with Eiji Oue and the Orchestra della Toscana in Tuscany and with Sascha Goetzel and the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra, and a European tour with the I, CULTURE Orchestra, featuring visits to the Radio France Festival in Montpellier and Copenhagen’s Tivoli Concert Hall. Radulović is also passionate about chamber music and has established a special collaboration with clarinettist Andreas Ottensamer, accordionist Ksenija Sidorova, and pianist Laure Favre-Kahn, with whom he appeared at the Schleswig-Holstein, Gstaad, Périgord Noir, and Impérial Annecy festivals. Radulović signed an exclusive Deutsche Grammophon contract in 2014 and his debut, Journey East, was released in 2015, presenting a programme of music rooted in Eastern Europe – with works by Brahms, Dvořák, and Khachaturian, among others – that won him the Echo Klassik Newcomer of the Year Award.