Shlomo Mintz

He was born on October 30, 1957 in Moscow,
is an Israeli violin virtuoso, violinist and conductor.


In 1959, at the age of two Shlomo Mintz emigrated with his family from Moscow to Israel, where he studied with the renowned Ilona Feher, one of the last representatives of the Central European Violin School.

Worldwide he is praised for his impeccable musicianship, stylistic versatility and commanding technique alike.

Mintz regularly appears with leading orchestras and conductors and performs in recitals and chamber music concerts all around the world.

Mrs. Feher introduced Shlomo Mintz to Isaac Stern, who became his mentor.

He was also a student of Dorothy Delay in New York.

Mintz regularly appears with leading orchestras and conductors and performs in recitals and chamber music concerts all around the world.

In 1997 he played Paganini's famous "Il Cannone", a violin made by Italian luthier Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesù, in 1742, during a special concert in Maastricht in the Netherlands with the Limburg Symphony Orchestra and conductor Yoel Levi. This concert was an initiative of a Dutch television network (TROS) and aired on TV in December 1997.

Mintz began his career at age 11 as a soloist with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. Soon afterwards he was called on a week's notice by Zubin Mehta to play Paganini's first Violin Concerto with the orchestra when Itzhak Perlman fell ill. He made his Carnegie Hall debut at the age of sixteen in a concert with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra that was presented under the auspices of Isaac Stern and the American-Israel Cultural Foundation, and subsequently began his studies with Dorothy DeLay at the Juilliard School of Music in New York.


At the age of eighteen, Mintz added the role of conductor to his artistic endeavours and has since conducted acclaimed orchestras worldwide, such as the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (United Kingdom), the NHK Symphony Orchestra (Japan) and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.

He was Music Advisor of the Israel Chamber Orchestra from 1989 to 1993 and in March 1994 he was named Artistic Advisor and Principal Guest Conductor of the Maastricht Symphony Orchestra (The Netherlands). He led the orchestra in weeks of concerts during four seasons, including some as both conductor and violin soloist.

In 2008 Mintz was named Principal Guest Conductor of the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra.

Mintz is patron and one of the founders of the Keshet Eilon International Violin Mastercourse in Israel, an advanced-level summer programme for young talented violinists from all around the world in kibbutz Eilon, Israel, and gives master classes worldwide.
He has been a member of the jury of several important international competitions, such as the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow (1993) and the Queen Elisabeth International Music Competition in Brussels (1993 and 2001).

In October 2001 Mintz was President of the Jury of the International Henryk Wieniawski Competition for the Violin in Poznań, Poland.

Since 2002 Mintz is Artistic Director of the Sion-Valais International Music Festival, and President of the Jury of the Sion Valais-International Violin Competition in Switzerland.

In order to bring a different insight into this Violin Competition, he cooperated with Swiss musician educator Nicole Coppey to create a Jury with children between 6 and 16.

In May 2006 Mintz was granted an Honorary Doctoral Degree by the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Be’er Sheva, Israel.



Shlomo Mintz plays Sibelius violin concerto, 3rd movement.