Ilian Garnetz

1st Concertmaster

Born in St. Petersburg in 1983 and raised in Chisinau/Moldova, Ilian Garnetz began playing the violin at the age of five. The artistic environment of his parental home supported and shaped his artistic development. He received his first violin lessons from Galina Buinovsky. He made his debut with the Chisinau Symphony Orchestra at the age of 10. He later continued his studies at the Chisinau Academy of Music with Boris Dubosarski. Garnetz also studied at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki with Alexandre Vinnitsky and finally completed his studies at the Royal Conservatory in Brussels with Igor Oistrakh. He received further artistic inspiration from masterclasses with Yehudi Menuhin, Stefan Gheorghiu, Robert Szreder, Misha Katz, Pavel Vernikov and Sachar Bron.He has won prizes at numerous competitions, including the David Oistrakh International Competition in Moscow, the Tibor Varga Competition in Switzerland (2008) and the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Belgium (2009). His teacher Igor Oistrakh said of him: "...he is an exciting and mature artist with a perfect technique, a great, nuanced tone, explosive temperament and artistic charm, which always evokes sympathy from the audience."

Ilian Garnetz has worked as concertmaster of the Berlin Philharmonic, Munich Philharmonic and the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra with conductors such as Semyon Bychkov, Manfred Honeck, Herbert Blomstedt, Omer Meir Wellber and Lahav Shani. Garnetz is also a passionate and experienced chamber musician, most recently with Sol Gabetta, Patricia Kopachinskaja and Wenxiao Zheng. He is a regular guest at renowned festivals such as the Enescu Festival in Bucharest and the Edinburgh International Festival. His 2010 CD recording of works by Schubert, Ysaye and Brahms for the Fuga Libera label was awarded the Cle d'Or in France and the Golden Label in Belgium. He has made further recordings with Bavarian Radio, MediciTV and ZDF.
As a representative of his home country Moldova, he received the "Artist of the Moldovan People" award.

Garnetz has also been 1st concertmaster of the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra since 2016 and currently plays a Guadagnini from 1773.