Sergei Bolotny, Violin

Biography

Sergei Bolotny was born in 1975 in Tschernowitz, Ukraine, as the son of two musicians. Bolotny’s father Mykola Bolotny is a renowned singer who received the title ‘Merited Artist of Ukraine’ in 1973. His mother Valentyna Bolotny is a singing teacher. Bolotny studied the violin at the Music School in Lwow (Lemberg) under Juri Golda, at the National Music Academy in Kiev under Jaroslawa Rivniak and Bogodar Kotorovich, and at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna under Michael Frischenschlager and Eugenia Tschugaeva. In addition, he took chamber music lessons with Johannes Meissl (Artis Quartet) and Avedis Kouyoumdjian (cofounder/deputy director of the ‘Joseph Haydn Institut für Kammermusik und Spezialensembles’). Bolotny also took part in masterclasses given by Vladimir Spivakov, Erich Grünberg, Andras Kiss, Juri Tomashek and Josef Suk, as well as in chamber music courses taught by the Altenberg Trio from Vienna. He received a stipend from the Viennese Schinner Foundation and from the National Bank of Ukraine. As an orchestral player he performed, among others, in the Volksoper Wien, in the Wiener Philharmoniker, and in the Wiener Staatsoper. Since 2010, he has been assistant second concertmaster at the North Netherlands Symphony Orchestra (NNO). As a soloist Bolotny has competed in many international music competitions and won various prestigious awards, such as first prize in the International Violin Competition in Uzbekistan in 1992. He was also named winner of the Leo Weiner International Competition in Hungary in 1995, and was a semifinalist in the International Violin Competition ‘Premio Paganini’ in Italy in 1995. In 2001 he received the ‘OESTIG-Preis’ in Austria, as well as second prize in the Leos Janacek International Competition. As part of the Metro Trio Wien ensemble, he won the ‘Promotion Prize’ in the Osaka international Chamber Music Competition in 2008. Bolotny often performs as a soloist, but also gives chamber music concerts with his wife, Keiko Sakuma, and as a member of various chamber music ensembles (various Dutch chamber music ensembles, the Emsland Ensemble from Germany, Creatives Centrum Wien from Austria, the Klezmatov ensemble, and the Metro Trio Wien). His concerts take place all over the world, in venues in the Netherlands, Germany, Japan, Italy, Austria, Croatia, Turkey, Israel and Ukraine.

www.bolotny-sakuma.com