Leonid Sigal
Conductor
![Leonid Sigal](/sites/symphonia/cache/file/46546634-0CA7-4DCA-A3F04C2C8EED04D0.jpg)
Leonid Sigal has enjoyed a multi-faceted career as recitalist, chamber musician and orchestra leader. Since early performances he was praised by audiences and critics for his virtuosity and musical sensitivity. The Miami Herald wrote: “Sigal demonstrated what a fine violinist he is, playing passionately and cleanly with a soaring tone”; and The Hartford Courant echoes: “…His tone was consistently sweet. He brought a clear sense of phrasing, articulation and effortless virtuosity”. Born in Moscow, Russia, he began violin studies at the age 5, and a year later was accepted to the renowned Gnessin School. He went on attending and graduating with excellence from the Moscow Conservatory.
Later he studied with Erik Friedman, and has taken master classes with Isaac Stern and Yehudi Menuhin. Winner of several violin competitions and recipient of 1993 Algur H. Meadows Artistic Scholarship Award, he moved to the US, where in 1995 he was invited by Michael Tilson Thomas to a prestigious fellowship at the New World Symphony. While serving as one of the concertmasters, he was also coached as conductor by Mr. Tilson Thomas. His experience includes recital and chamber music appearances in the US, Canada, Germany, Great Britain, France, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Russia, Japan and South Korea.
He has performed with Sir Georg Solti, Leonard Bernstein, and Christoph Eshenbach. Among his festival appearances are France’s Rencontres Musicales d’Evian, Schwetzingen Festival in Germany, as well as festivals in Prague, Tokyo, Seoul and Miami. A devoted chamber musician, he collaborated with Mstislav Rostropovich, Evgeny Kissin, Edgar Meyer, Joseph Silverstein, James Ehnes and Roberto Diaz among others. He appears with the Miami Friends of Chamber Music and is a frequent guest with the Avery Ensemble. Chamber Music and is a frequent guest with the Avery Ensemble.
In 2007, in partnership with Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, he inaugurated and became Artistic Director of a chamber music series known as Sunday Serenades: Chamber Music at the Atheneum. Previously Associate Concertmaster of the Florida Philharmonic, he had also performed with San Diego Symphony. From 2001-2004 he served as Artistic Director of the Miami Chamber Symphony. He makes frequent returns to the podium, of which most recent highlights include leading the Hartford Symphony in Schubert’s Symphony No. 5 and Poulenc’s Sinfonietta, as well as works by Mozart, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Glazunov, Borodin and Prokofiev. After acclaimed performances of Bruch’ Scottish Fantasy and Bernstein’s Serenade, as well as concertos by Haydn, Mozart, Sibelius, and Brahms with the HSO, he is, once again, featured as a soloist this season at the Talcott Mountain Music Festival in a performance of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons and in May 2011 in the world premiere performance of Gryc’s Harmonia Mundi. Mr. Sigal is also concertmaster and assistant conductor of the Atlantic Chamber Orchestra. He serves on faculty of University of Hartford’s The Hartt School.