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.
