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Violin Marc Bouchkov

birthday cake
Born On April 23, 1991
France
Born in France
Belgium
Belgium
instrument
Violin Carlo and Michelangelo Bergonzi violin from 1742-44 as a private loan on behalf of Edwulstrad RMIC Ltd.
Bow Victor Fetique
graduation cap
Education
Paris Conservatoire | Kronberg Academy
music note
Teachers
Eduard Wulfson | Boris Garlitsky | Mihaela Martin
awards
Notable awards/competitions won
Henri Koch International Violin Competition Prize Winner | Montreal International Violin Competition Prize Winner | Tchaikovsky International Violin Competition Prize Winner

Belgian violinist of Russian-Ukrainian heritage, Marc Bouchkov is proving to be one of the most unique and multifaceted musicians of the new generation. His recent highlights include his debut with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and Lahav Shani, his debut with the Budapest Festival Orchestra and Gabor Takas-Nagy, a tour with the Verbier Chamber Orchestra in China and Hong-Kong, an orchestra tour in Japan with Norichika Iimori, his debut with Sunwook Kim in Seoul, the end of his residency with the Netherlands Philharmonic under the batons of Lorenzo Viotti, Ryan Bancroft, and Hannu Lintu, and the complete cycle of Beethoven Violin Sonatas at the Verbier Festival, at the Oji Hall in Tokyo and at the Israel Philharmonic recital series with the pianist Mao Fujita.

Upcoming highlights include a return to Barcelona Symphony with Juanjo Mena and a concert with the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI and Marta Gardolinska, his residency at the Villa Musica Schloss Engers. He will also participate in Chamber Music Connects The World at the Kronberg Academy.

During the 2025 Verbier Festival, he will perform with various partners such as Klaus Mäkelä, Lahav Shani, Mao Fujita, Blythe Engstroem, Martin Frost, Julien Quentin, and will have his soloist debut with Teodor Currentzis.

Recently Deutsche Grammophon Gold published his live performances of Ysaye sonatas and concerto from the previous edition of the Verbier Festival. He recorded an all Mendelssohn album with the pianist Claire Huang-Ci on the label Berlin Classics including both sonatas and the double concerto. His very first album on Harmonia Mundi featured two premieres by Eugène Ysaye and two works composed by himself. The album was awarded a Diapason d’Or and a Diapason Découverte. A friend of a few living composers, Marc recorded as well a chamber music album of the music by Igor Raykhelson, and two of the violin concerti by Alexey Shor.

His orchestral appearances included performances with the Orchestra Filarmonica della Scala and Lorenzo Viotti, the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra and Philippe Jordan, HR Sinfonieorchester and Christoph Eschenbach, the Mariinsky Theater Symphony Orchestra and Valery Gergiev, the Verbier Festival Orchestra under Gábor Takács-Nagy, and the Brussels Philharmonic Orchestra under Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider among others. He has also appeared with the NDR-Sinfonieorchester Hamburg, Tonhalle Orchester Zürich, the Orchestre National de Belgique, the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale RAI in Turin, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of Liège, collaborating with conductors such as Stanislav Kochanovsky, Ludovic Morlot, Lionel Bringuier, Maxim Vengerov, to name but a few.

Mr. Bouchkov has performed in many of the world’s most prestigious concert halls such as Wigmore Hall, Carnegie Hall, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Teatro alla Scala, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Concert Hall of St. Petersburg, Tonhalle Zürich, Maison de Radio France, and the Konzerthaus in Berlin. In great demand as a recitalist, he is a regular guest of the Verbier Festival in Switzerland, the Tsinandali Festival in Georgia, and the Jerusalem International Chamber Music Festival in Israel. A fine chamber musician, his music partners included Evgenij Kissin, Mischa Maisky, Andras Schiff, Lahav Shani, Klaus Mäkelä, and Behzod Abdurahimov.

His violin competition prizes include A gold medal at the Montreal International Musical Competition and a silver medal at the Tchaikovsky Competition. Marc Bouchkov was born into a family of violinists. He received his first lessons at the age of five from his grandfather and studies with Claire Bernard and Boris Garlitsky followed. He then went on to study with Mihaela Martin, as a Young Soloist in a postgraduate course at the Kronberg Academy. For many years now he has been under the musical tutorship of Eduard Wulfson.

Mr. Bouchkov currently serves as a professor on the faculty of the Conservatoire Royale de Liège (BE), and from April 2025 as professor at the Folkwang University of Arts in Essen.

"Mindblowing Musicality and Dexterity That Will Leave You in Awe"

-The Violin Channel

Marc Bouchkov
What are your hobbies outside of music?
Music is much more than my work now so it's in a way always in my head no matter what. But I always have been a bit of a gamer, so I like to play my Nintendo Switch on my trips, and when there is nice company one of my latest favorite games is Cards Against Humanity. Love the dark humor!
If you were not a musician, what profession do you feel you’d be doing now? 
I was always passionate by physics and astronomy as a student, if I would have dedicated the same amount of time as I did in music and violin, I would have probably tried to study Astro-physics!
What would your dream gig be?   
A dream gig coming true was a project with Israel Philharmonic and Lahav Shani... Next dream would definitely be Berlin Philharmonic with Kirill Petrenko!
What is a song that makes you turn the radio up?
Whenever I hear some old blues, jazz or soul singers (without auto-tune) And... Jacob Collier.
What would you say makes you unique as a musician?   
Trick question... but I would like to believe I am a modern musician with an old soul. I Love the old school passion in the sound, honesty and dedication to the study of the scores. Also, I really love to feel rhythmical and pulse patterns in our Classical music but in a more rock and roll way! So whenever there is a cool rhythmical and pulsing Passage I am starting to feel a beat in my head...
Do you keep all 3 meals phone-free? No social media scrolling. 
I have the chance to eat most of my meals with my wife, and we always have amazing conversations - no need for scrolling! And If she is not with me, I'm generally surrounded by other people with whom I can also talk and enjoy phone free meals!
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