Valerii Viktorovych Sokolov (* 22 September 1986, Kharkiv, Ukrainian SSR) is a Ukrainian violinist.
Education.
He started learning to play the violin when he was five years old. Until the age of 14, he studied at the Kharkiv Secondary Specialised Music Boarding School in the class of Professor Serhiy Yevdokymov, then from 2001 at the Yehudi Menuhin School in London - in the class of Professor Natalia Boyarska.
He took part in masterclasses by Mstislav Rostropovich, Zvi Zeitlin, Dora Schwartzberg, Zakhar Bron, Ruggero Ricci, Igor Ozym, Tatiana Grindenko and Gary Hoffman.
He continued his studies at King's College London (class of Professor Felix Andrievsky). After graduation, he entered the postgraduate course at the renowned Kronberg Academy of Music (Frankfurt am Main, Germany) in the class of professors Anna Chumachenko and Gidon Kremer. Since 2013, he has been studying under the guidance of Prof. Borys Kushnir in Vienna.
Competitions, awards and concerts
1998 - won 3rd prize at the Little Prince Competition in Zaporizhzhia and 3rd prize at the Kocian Competition in the Czech Republic.
That year, he did not participate in any more competitions, but began to play at the Presidential Concerts at the Palace of Ukraine (Kyiv) and the National Philharmonic of Ukraine (1999-2000) as a participant in the New Names of Ukraine programme and took part in the Slavic Bazaar in Vitebsk in the Day of Ukraine programme (2000).
1999 - Valeriy performs as a soloist for the first time with the Kharkiv Youth Orchestra under the direction of Rashid Nigmatullin.
In the same year, he took part as the youngest performer in the adult category at the last, Second Bohodar Kotorovych Competition in Kharkiv, but did not win an award.
Then, 13-year-old Valeriy performed at the Pablo Sarasate International Competition in Pamplona (Spain), where he received a "Study Grant" of 3500 euros, established by the Competition. On the recommendation of the President of the Jury, Volodymyr Spivakov, as well as Zakhar Bron and Hryhoriy Zhyslyn, he immediately began preparing for the Menukhin School in London.
2001 - began his studies at the Yehudi Menuhin School and took part in numerous concerts and festivals in the UK, both as a soloist and as part of an orchestra.
In November 2003 he won 3rd prize at the Liana Isakadze Violin Competition in St Petersburg.
2005 - received a Gold Medal and a special prize for his performance of Enescu's Third Sonata at the George Enescu Competition in Bucharest.
On the same day, Valeriy was accepted to one of the most famous agencies in Europe, Harrison Parot, and was personally tutored by Jasper Parot, the founder of this agency. He has performed in many European countries, the USA, Asia, Australia and the Middle East.
He has performed solo and with orchestras in such venues as Wigmore Hall (London), Carnegie Hall's Small Hall and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (New York), Théâtre des Champs-Elysées and Salle Pleyel (Paris), Suntory Hall (Tokyo), and the Library of Congress (Washington), The National Arts Centre (Seoul), Tchaikovsky Hall and the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatoire (Moscow), Column Hall of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Geneva Opera, Stockholm Concert Hall, Severance Hall[en] (Cleveland), Palais des beaux-arts de Bruxelles[fr] (Brussels) and many others.
In 2005-2013 he was invited as a soloist to the Cleveland Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic, London Philharmonic and Philharmonia Orchestras, and the Royal Stockholm Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, Radio France, Bavarian Radio (Munich), NDR (Hannover), Tonhalle Orchester Zürich (Zurich), Beijing Philharmonic, Seoul Philharmonic, Moscow Philharmonic, Svetlanov State Academic Radio Orchestra of the Russian Federation, Mahler Chamber Orchestra (Moscow), and the St Petersburg State Philharmonic. Svetlanov, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Europe and many others.
At the end of 2013, he joined Askonas Holt, one of the world's largest music agencies.
In 2014-2015 he was invited by the best halls and orchestras in the world, including tours with the Brussels Philharmonic Orchestra to the Musikverein and Salzburg, the BBC Orchestra in London and Prague Spring, the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra and a tour of Sweden with the Royal Stockholm Orchestra.
For the past five years, he has been performing annually at the National Philharmonic Hall of Ukraine with the Academic Symphony Orchestra of the National Philharmonic of Ukraine and the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine under the direction of M. Diadiura, V. Sirenko and V. Protasov.
He has played chamber music with D. Matsuev, V. Repin, H. Hoffmann, R. Kapuson, V. Postnikova, and M. Maiskyi.
Since 2005, he has an exclusive contract with EMI Classics, which this year has acquired a new name, Erato, and has recorded 4 discs, including 2 DVDs.
