Sergej Krylov – violinist, artistic director and conductor of the LCO

“Sergej Krylov transfixed the house, fiddling with the kind of effortless lyricism, liquid flow and mercurial tones that distinguish the best violinists playing at their best.” The Times

Effervescent musicianship, intense lyricism and beguiling tonal beauty belong to the qualities that have secured Sergej Krylov’s place among today’s most renowned performers.

He gained wide international fame, winning the first prizes at the Rodolfo Lipizer, Antonio Stradivariand Fritz KreislerInternational Violin Competitions. Mstislav Rostropovich, with whom the young violinist often performed in joint programs, had a great influence on the musician's work. “I was amazed by the quality of this remarkable violinist whom I consider to be one of the five best contemporary violinists in the world,”- Rostropovich wrote about his young colleague.

For his outstanding contribution to the development of musical art, Sergej Krylov was awarded the prizes “Le Muse” (Florence), “Viotti d’oro” (Vercelli), “Angelo dell’anno” (Milan), “Torrone d’oro”, “Violino d‘argento” (Cremona) and “Russian Rome”. At the 2022 Vilnius Festival, the Lithuanian National Philharmonic Society honoured the artistic director of the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra in a special way by awarding him with the first-degree honorary insignia “In the Service of Music” initiated by the Lithuanian National Philharmonic Society.

Today, Sergej Krylov’s versatile skills are reflected in his extensive concert repertoire, which covers musical eras from the early Italian Baroque to the avant-garde compositions of the 21st century. The musician's recent recordings include Vivaldi's Four Seasons and Paganini's 24 Caprices (Deutsche Grammophon), Krzysztof Penderecki's violin concerto “Metamorphosen” conducted by the composer (DUX, 2017), as well as a video recording of the “Esoconcerto” violin concerto performed with the author, Ezio Bosso, at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice (Sony Classics, 2016). Sergej Krylov took part in the concert project and recording of the DVD “Twin Spirits” with Sting. At the invitation of the Oscar winning Italian director Gabriele Salvatores, he recorded the music “Fantasy for Violin” for the film “Il ragazzo invisibile”.

Sergej Krylov collaborated with such conductors as Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Dmitri Kitayenko, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Charles Dutoit, Mikhail Pletnev, Jean-Claude Casadesus, Juozas Domarkas, Valery Gergiev, Yuri Simonov, Fabio Luisi, Andrey Boreyko, Yuri Temirkanov, Dmitry Liss, Vladimir Jurowski, James Conlon, Saulius Sondeckis, Omer-Meir Wellber, Roberto Abbado, Vasily Petrenko, Andris Poga, Marin Alsop, Nikolaj Znaider, Ton Koopman and Vladimir Ashkenazy.

He performed with orchestras such as the London Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo, Orchestra Filarmonica della Scala, Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Dresden Staatskapelle, DSO Berlin, Budapest Festival Orchestra, NHK Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg, Camerata Salzburg, Russian National Orchestra, St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Mariinsky Theatre Symphony Orchestra and many others.

Since 2008 Sergej Krylov is the Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra, with which he has performed more than two hundred concerts around the world. He has conducted numerous orchestras including the English Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra Filarmonica di Bologna, Orchestra Regionale Toscana, Orchestra Teatro Carlo Felice di Genova, Orchestra del Teatro Petruzzelli, I Pomeriggi Musicali, Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, Südwestdeutsches Kammerorchester, Neue Philharmonie Westfalen, Accademia dell’Orchestra Mozart, Brussel Chamber Orchestra, “Moscow Virtuosi”, Novosibirsk Philharmonic Orchestra and National Orchestra of Tatarstan to name just a few.

Chamber music projects connected Sergej Krylov with many renowned musicians. Among them are Bruno Canino, Itamar Golan, Denis Matsuev, Zoltan Kocsis, Mario Brunello, Boris Berezovsky, Enrico Dindo, Nikolai Lugansky, Alexander Knyazev, Yuri Bashmet, Misha Maisky, Yefim Bronfman and others.

A graduate of the Central Music School in Moscow (class of S. I. Kravchenko), a student of Abram Stern and Salvatore Accardo, Sergej Krylov holds the post of Professor at the Lugano Conservatory (Switzerland) since 2012. The musician took part in the jury of many prestigious international competitions, including the XVI International P. I. Tchaikovsky and the 55th and the 56th International Niccolo Paganini Competition in Genoa, where he was a chairman of the Jury.

Short biography

“Sergej Krylov transfixed the house, fiddling with the kind of effortless lyricism, liquid flow and mercurial tones that distinguish the best violinists playing at their best.” The Times

Effervescent musicianship, intense lyricism and beguiling tonal beauty belong to the qualities that have secured Sergej Krylov’s place among today’s most renowned performers. Mstislav Rostropovich, with whom the young violinist often performed in joint programs, had a great influence on the musician's work. “I was amazed by the quality of this remarkable violinist whom I consider to be one of the five best contemporary violinists in the world,”- Rostropovich wrote about his young colleague.

For his outstanding contribution to the development of musical art, Sergej Krylov was awarded the prizes “Le Muse” (Florence), “Viotti d’oro” (Vercelli), “Angelo dell’anno” (Milan), “Torrone d’oro”, “Violino d‘argento” (Cremona) and “Russian Rome”. At the 2022 Vilnius Festival, the Lithuanian National Philharmonic Society honoured the artistic director of the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra in a special way by awarding him with the first-degree honorary insignia “In the Service of Music” initiated by the Lithuanian National Philharmonic Society.

Today, Sergej Krylov’s extensive concert repertoire covers musical eras from the early Italian Baroque to the avant-garde compositions of the 21st century. His recent recordings include Vivaldi's Four Seasons and Paganini's 24 Caprices (Deutsche Grammophon), Krzysztof Penderecki's violin concerto “Metamorphosen” conducted by the composer (DUX), as well as a video recording of the “Esoconcerto” violin concerto performed with the author, Ezio Bosso, at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice (Sony Classics). At the invitation of the Oscar winning Italian director Gabriele Salvatores, he recorded the music “Fantasy for Violin” for the film “Il ragazzo invisibile”.

Sergej Krylov performed with the great orchestras of Europe, Russia, Asia and America under the batons of the world’s celebrated conductors such as Fabio Luisi, Vasily Petrenko, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Marin Alsop, Nikolaj Znaider, Ton Koopman, Roberto Abbado, Mikhail Pletnev, Andrey Boreyko, Dmitry Liss, Andris Poga and Vladimir Ashkenazy to name a few.

Since 2008 Sergej Krylov is the Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra, with which he has performed more than two hundred concerts around the world. He has conducted numerous orchestras in the UK, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Russia, Israel and others.

Sergej Krylov holds the post of Professor at the Lugano Conservatory (Switzerland) and is often invited to join the jury of prestigious international competitions, including the XVI International P. I. Tchaikovsky and the 55th and the 56th International Niccolo Paganini Competition in Genoa, where he was a chairman of the Jury.