People’s Artist of the USSR
Honorary Academician of the London Academy of Arts
Officer of Fine Arts and Literature

Student of Fyodor Druzhinin at the Moscow Conservatory. Prize-winner of international competitions in Budapest (1975) and in Munich (1976).

He performed with such renowned musicians as: S. Richter, M. Rostropovich, I. Stern, A-S. Mutter, G. Kremer, M. Argerich, M. Maisky, M. Portal, Sh. Mintz, O. Kagan, N. Gutman, V. Tretiakov, M.J. Pires and other celebrated musicians.

As the soloist and conductor, Yuri Bashmet performs with the topline orchestras: The Berlin and New York Philharmonic Orchestras, the Chicago and London Symphony Orchestras, etc.

Yuri Bashmet is the founder and director of the Moscow Soloists Chamber Ensemble. He also founded the International Charity Fund, the Shostakovich International Award given for outstanding achievements in art all over the world. He is the founder and jury chairman of Russia’s first and only International Competition of Violists, which is held in Moscow. He is the president of the Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition in the United Kingdom, a member of the jury for violist competitions in Munich and Maurice Vie Competitions in Paris. Yuri Bashmet is a professor of the Moscow Conservatory.

He was awarded State Prizes of the USSR and Russia as well as the Sonnings Musikfond Prize (a prestigious prize also awarded to I. Stravinsky, L. Bernstein, B. Britten, Y. Menuhin, I. Stern, A. Rubinstein, D. Shostakovich, M. Rostropovich, S. Richter). He was awarded Orders of Merit for the Fatherland and Merit of the Italian Republic.