For more information on violinist, Shlomo Mintz, please go to his official website at: http://www.shlomo-mintz.com/en/biography Shlomo Mintz (born October 30, 1957) is an Israeli violin virtuoso, violist and conductor. He regularly appears with orchestras and conductors on the international scene and is heard in recitals and chamber music concerts around the world Biography. Shlomo Mintz was born in Moscow. In 1959, at the age of two, his family immigrated to Israel, where he studied with Ilona Feher, one of the last representatives of the Central European Violin School. Feher introduced Shlomo Mintz to Isaac Stern, who became his mentor. He was also a student of Dorothy Delay in New York. Conducting career. At the age of eighteen, Shlomo Mintz added the role of conductor to his artistic endeavours and has since conducted acclaimed orchestras worldwide, such as the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (United Kingdom), the NHK Symphony Orchestra (Japan) and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. He was Music Advisor of the Israel Chamber Orchestra from 1989 to 1993 and in March 1994 he was named Artistic Advisor and Principal Guest Conductor of the Maastricht Symphony Orchestra (The Netherlands). He led the orchestra in weeks of concerts during four seasons, including some as both conductor and violin soloist. In 2008 Shlomo Mintz was named Principal Guest Conductor of the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra. Teaching career Mintz is one of the founders of the Keshet Eilon International Violin Mastercourse in Israel, an advanced-level summer program for young talented violinists from all around the world in kibbutz Eilon, Israel, and gives master classes worldwide. He has been a member of the jury of international competitions such as the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow (1993) [2]and the Queen Elisabeth International Music Competition in Brussels (1993 and 2001). In October 2001 Mr. Mintz was President of the Jury of the International Henryk Wieniawski Competition for the Violin in Poznań, Poland. Since 2002 Shlomo Mintz is Artistic Director of the Sion-Valais International Music Festival, and President of the Jury of the Sion Valais-International Violin Competition in Switzerland. [3] In order to bring a different insight into this Violin Competition, he cooperated with Swiss musician educator Nicole Coppey to create a Jury with children between 6 and 16. Mentor and President of the Jury of the First International Violin Competition Buenos Aires 2010. For more information, please go to Mr. Mintz's Wiki Page at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shlomo_Mintz For more information on conductor, Claudio Abbado, please go to: http://www.deutschegrammophon.com/artist/biography?ART_ID=ABBCL http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claudio_Abbado http://www.naxos.com/person/Claudio_Abbado/30354.htm - This is a very intereting site indeed. For more information on the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, please go to: http://cso.org/ListenAndWatch/Details.aspx?id=18696 http://www.mymusicbase.ru/PPB/ppb29/Bio_2917.htm