Alexander Zemtsov

Biography

Alexander attended the Special Music School in his home town of Ufa. At the age of ten he entered the Gnessin Music Lyceum in Moscow, a school for gifted children, where he studied under Prof.E. Ozol. After graduating he joined his family in Germany where he studied at the Hochschule fur Musik und Theater in Hamburg with Prof. M. Nichiteanu. He continued his education with the famous viola virtuoso Prof. Michael Kugel in Hoogeschool Maastricht and post graduated from the Hochschule “Hanns Eisler”  Berlin in the class of Prof. Tabea Zimmermann.  

Zemtsov's mastery and artistry have been widely recognized internationally and have been brought him numerous prizes: first prize at the International Youth Competition "Classical Legacy" in Moscow in 1995, first prize at the Elise Meyer competition in Hamburg in 1997, and first prize at the 8th Brahms competition in Poertschach, Austria, in 2001. That year he was also a winner of the "Unge solister" audition in Stavanger, Norway, and of the Tenuto competition in Brussels.

Since the age of 19 Alexander has worked with several European orchestras and in September 2002 was appointed Principal Viola with the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

Alexander is member of the new string ensemble The Hermitage Trio. After the trio's debut concert at St John's, Smith Square in November 2004, it was invited to appear in several music festivals. In addition, Alexander is a permanent member of the Razumovsky Ensemble, with whom he regularly performs in the Wigmore Hall Chamber Music Series. Both ensembles are highly acclaimed in the UK.

As a soloist he has performed with Belgian Radio Orchestra, Musikverein Vienna, London Philharmonic Orchestra and others at the prestigious concert platforms like   Tchaikovsky Conservatoire Hall in Moscow, the Musikhalle in Hamburg , Palais des Beaux Arts in Brussels.

His repertoire embraces all the major works for the instrument, including arrangements of virtuoso violin pieces as the "Carmen-Fantasy" (Bizet-Waxman) , “The Last rose of Summer“ by Ernst and others. 

In 2004, he played a leading role in the formation of a chamber orchestra comprising members of the LPO. That year the orchestra toured Germany where Alexander appeared as a soloist. 

Alexander has recently been appointed a viola professor at the Guildhall School of Music. 

Future plans include  performances of Britten’s Doubleconcerto with Peter Schoeman and the London Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Vladimir Jurovski in  2006 in London.