The Yehudi Menuhin School Announces New Associate Musicians

The new roster of associate artists includes violinist Alexander Sitkovetsky, harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani, and composer Alexey Shor

The Yehudi Menuhin School (YMS) has welcomed violinist and YMS alum Alexander Sitkovetsky and harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani to its associate artists roster, while composer Alexey Shor has become the school’s first associate composer. 

Their duties will include visiting YMS several times a year, providing one-to-one lessons, masterclasses, chamber music coaching, and performing as guests with the YMS senior orchestra. They will join violist and conductor Maxim Rysanov, who was announced as YMS’s first associate artist earlier this year. 

Born in Moscow into a musical family, Sitkovetsky made his concerto debut at age eight and in the same year began studying at YMS. Upcoming projects include appearing at the Stavanger, Verbier, and Schloss Elmau festivals, and touring with his chamber groups, including the Sitkovetsky Trio, throughout Europe and the U.S.

“I have a strong connection to YMS and Yehudi Menuhin. Lord Menuhin offered me a place at the School, and was the reason I relocated to the UK where I’ve been based ever since,” Sitkovetsky said. “Lord Menuhin was an inspiration for me throughout my eight years at the school and I am looking forward to continuing his work, by performing with the pupils, and playing an active role in further developing their musicianship.”

“I’m so delighted by the opportunity to join the larger artistic conversation with the young people and the staff at YMS alike and to deepen the conversation between different instruments and ways of looking at music,” said Esfahani.

From 2008 to 2012, Esfahani was the first and only harpsichordist to be a BBC New Generation Artist and has been a 2009 Borletti-Buitoni prizewinner, three-time nominee for Gramophone’s Artist of the Year, and was twice shortlisted as Instrumentalist of the Year for the Royal Philharmonic Society Awards. He recently completed a four-season project performing the complete keyboard works of J.S. Bach at Wigmore Hall.  

Born in Ukraine, Shor later immigrated to Israel and then to the U.S. His compositions have been performed at Wiener Musikverein, Berlin Philharmonie, Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, Great Hall of Moscow Conservatory, Mariinsky Theatre, Kremlin Palace, The Concertgebouw, Gasteig, Wigmore Hall, Teatro Argentina, and many others. In 2018, he was awarded an honorary professorship at Armenia’s Komitas State Conservatory.

“YMS is one of the best music schools in the world, and I’m deeply honored to be invited to be the School’s Associate Composer,” Shor said of his new role. “I’m thrilled that I will have a chance to see the school’s students work on my compositions, and I am looking forward to their insights and interpretations.”

“Alexander and Mahan are not only world-class musicians and instrumentalists, but they are also wonderful communicators, with a diverse range of talents and interests which set them apart as truly well-rounded artists,” said YMS music director, Ashley Wass. “We’re honored that they are committed to building such close links with YMS, and I’m sure they’ll prove to be inspirational figures, both for students and staff, for many years to come.

“Alexey’s arrival…marks an exciting moment for YMS,” Wass continued. “I was privileged to receive an invitation to play his Piano Sonata earlier in the year, and was immediately struck by the exceptional craftsmanship of the work…I’m hugely excited at the prospect of our pupils having the opportunity to explore Alexey’s musical oeuvre.”

American-born violinist Yehudi Menuhin founded YMS in 1963 to nurture young gifted musicians from around the world regardless of their economic background. Alumni include Nicola Benedetti, Alina Ibragimova, Tasmin Little, and Nigel Kennedy. Today, the school comprises 81 students aged between 11 and 19, training on various stringed instruments and piano.

Rysanov and Esfahani will be performing with YMS pupils as part of the Autumn/Winter Season at The Menuhin Hall in concerts on December 14, 2022, and February 23, 2023.