Today we’d like to introduce you to Stanislav Pronin. Them and their team share their story with us below:
Canadian violinist and composer Stanislav Pronin began his violin studies in Israel at the age of eight. His first teacher was his grandfather, Veniamin Pronin, a student of Pyotr Stoliarskiy and a former Professor at the Odessa Conservatoire. Stanislav continued his studies at Indiana University with Nelli Shkolnikova and Jaime Laredo, as well as composition lessons with Professor Sven-David Sandstrom, and later at the Hochschule für Musik Köln, Germany, with Professor Zakhar Bron. Stanislav’s professional career began following his solo debut in Israel at the age of ten. He has performed as a soloist and chamber musician at many festivals including Verbier Festival and Interlaken Classics in Switzerland, Banff Festival and Stratford Festival in Canada, Kronberg Festival in Germany, Skanderborg Festival in Denmark, etc. He performs regularly in the USA, Canada, Europe and Scandinavia in such venues as Berliner Philharmonie, Carnegie Hall, Miller Theatre, Musikhuset Aarhus, National Arts Centre Ottawa, Perlman Theatre in Philadelphia, Odessa Philharmonic and Odessa Opera halls in the Ukraine, Berlin Waldbühne, Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, Guangzhou Grand Theater, Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, Wuxi Grand Theater (China), KKL Luzern, Salzburg Festspiele, Paris Philharmonie, Royal Festival Hall and Royal Albert Hall in London, Shanghai Oriental Arts Center, Semperoper in Dresden, and so on. He has collaborated with numerous conductors including Daniel Barenboim, Leonard Slatkin, Tobias Ringborg, Antonio Mendez, Sigiswald Kuijken, Michael Schonwandt, Lior Shambadal, David Robert Coleman, Andrew Constantine, Leif Segerstram, Marc Soustrot and Joshua Weilerstein.
As a chamber musician, he has collaborated with Jan Lisiecki, Jaime Laredo, James Campbell, Mark Kaplan, Pavel Vernikov, Jeanne Marie Conquer, Barry Shiffman, Bion Tsang, Orion String Quartet, Victor Danchenko, Julian Milkis, Alexander Zemtsov, Jan-Erik Gustafsson, Anton Nel, Emille Naoumoff and Lera Auerbach. Stanislav has also been Primarius of the Toronto-based Annex Quartet since 2012. Other activities in Canada included recitals at Koerner Hall in Vancouver (“Music in the Morning” concert series), recording for CBC at the Glenn Gould Studio in Toronto, and the 2016 Debut Atlantic Tour. Just as his grandfather who, in his time, had worked closely with numerous composers, including Dmitry Shostakovich, Stanislav is an avid performer of new music. He has worked with and premiered works of such composers as John Adams, Fabian Panisello, David Robert Coleman, Murray Schafer, Ned Rorem, Toivo Tulev, Hans Abrahamsen and Lera Auerbach.
As far as composition projects are concerned, Stanislav recorded his new 45-minute-long solo violin cycle “In Solitude – 7 Impressions” at CBC in Toronto in July 2015. He also completed his sonata for two violins, written for Jeanne Marie Conquer of the Ensemble Intercontemporain, and recorded it with her in January 2016, at Cite de la Musique in Paris. This 2-violin sonata was published in 2019 by Musikverlag Ries and Erler, Berlin. His work for soprano and piano entitled “4 Songs, In Memory of Marina Tsvetaeva” and written for renowned Metropolitan Opera soprano Lyubov Petrova and pianist Drew Petersen was recorded in March of 2016 in New York. In 2017, he was commissioned to write two fantasies for solo violin with orchestra, one on themes by G. Verdi (entitled “VERDI+”) and another on “Le Temps des Cathedrales” from the musical “Notre Dame de Paris”, both of which were successfully premiered by Stanislav as a soloist at the “Odessa Golden Festival” in Odessa, Ukraine. In addition to solo and chamber music, Stanislav is an experienced orchestra musician. He has been invited to perform as Concertmaster with Aarhus Symphony Orchestra and Odense Symphony Orchestra in Denmark, Austin Lyric Opera in the USA, Berliner Symphoniker, Beethoven Bonn Orchestra and Freiburg Philharmonic in Germany, Musikkolegium Winterthur in Switzerland, Estonian National Symphony Orchestra in Estonia, Singapore Symphony Orchestra and City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in the UK. Additionally, he often tours with the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra at the personal invitation of Daniel Barenboim.
Stanislav’s recordings and performances, including his solo CD debut “Violin For One” on Naxos/Sono Luminus labels, have been broadcasted on numerous radio and television channels including WDR Köln, RTS-1 Belgrade, CBC Canada, Radio Klassisk Denmark, Interlochen Public Radio, WFMT Chicago Classical, etc. He has also recorded for Decca and Dacapo labels as a soloist and Concertmaster of the Aarhus Symphony Orchestra.
An avid music educator, Stanislav regularly teaches violin and chamber music masterclasses worldwide. He has been Guest Professor at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theater since 2014. Additionally, he had held an Artist in Residence position at the University of Texas at Austin, and had given masterclasses at a regular visiting Professor at the Royal College of Music in London, Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff, Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, WWU Munster, Stoliyarski School of Music in Odessa, Lübecker Musikschule, Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance in Israel, assisted Professor Zakhar Bron at the Kronberg Academy, and had been guest faculty at such festivals as Summit Music Festival (NYC) and Alion Baltic (Tallinn), along with fellow faculty members s.a. Aaron Rosand, Steven Isserlis, Ida Haendel, Albert Markov, Dmitry Bashkirov, etc. Stanislav is also a member of Play With A Pro online teaching community.
Stanislav is a recipient of multiple awards from such organizations as the American String Teachers Association, America-Israel Cultural Foundation, Canada Council for the Arts and Classical Artists Development Foundation. He plays a violin by Antonio Stradivari on generous loan by an anonymous patron, with the kind assistance of Florian Leonhard Fine Violins Fellowship.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
As with most child prodigies, I have had a very strict upbringing. I was forced to practice many hours daily and was disciplined quite harshly. Today, I reflect on my childhood with gratitude towards my family, particularly for pushing me so hard to make the best of myself, although it certainly wasn’t easy at the time… Additionally, my parents and I immigrated several times, which made me feel like I didn’t really have a home, so to speak. My mother being Russian and my father Ukrainian (which is a very strange thing to consider in today’s tumultuous world situation), I was born in Moscow and we immigrated to Israel when I was eight years old. Our immigration coincided with the 2nd Palestinian Intifada and, having resided in the West Bank area, I was subjected to war and violence for most of my childhood until I came to study in the USA. It may sound banal, but I’ve always felt like music was the only means of true expression that was capable of, at least temporarily, muting the sounds of tanks and rockets being fired next to my house. I’ve witnessed suicide bombings and many other horrific things in my life, but my devotion to my family and music was the best therapy I could’ve wished for. I’m still working on myself, of course, and practicing each day is my favorite form of meditation.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
As an artist, I have been touring worldwide since the age of ten. In terms of my attitude towards art and music, I don’t believe in compromise and superficiality. Unfortunately, so many talented young people today are more concerned with their physical appearance on stage, instead of focusing on the profound nature or essence of the music they are performing. Looking “flashy” and smiling to the audience doesn’t make one an artist. A lot of musicians know WHAT they are doing on their instrument, but very few understand WHY they are on the stage. Without true artistic integrity, music becomes quite meaningless. Even amateur audience members are able to appreciate and feel and be moved by an honest performance.
Additionally, I believe that the division between composer and performer, which became evident in the 2nd half of the 20th century, was detrimental in many ways to artists’ creativity. I am a composer and I often perform my own music, which is a completely different and refreshing creative process, and I feel like most artists should try composing or at least arranging works on their own. When I perform Mozart, Brahms or Tchaikovsky, I feel like a messenger of sorts – I certainly have my own conceptual framework and strong opinions about these works, but I still have to deliver the essence of these great works and bring them to life during a performance. On the other hand, with my own music, I feel more of a direct contact with the audience since I get to project my own emotions combined with my own concept and view of the world.
If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
I was quite introverted. My main hobbies were reading and listening to music. Among my favorite authors were Shakespeare, Dostoyevsky, Goethe, Oscar Wilde and Plato. In terms of music, I listened to classical a lot, but I also loved Jazz, Blues, Rock and Hip Hop. That’s how my interest for improvisation began to develop and since then I’d worked with wonderful rappers, jazz and blues and rock musicians, having recorded tracks and played gigs with them, both on my acoustic and electric violins.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stanislav.pronin.music/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stanislavproninmusic/about
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJ6kFn4xMIhlPLGsou2vTkQ
- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/stanislav-pronin-974514697
- Other: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/stanislav-pronin/460964812
