Anna-Liisa Bezrodny

b. September 10, 1981, Moscow
Member of the Estonian Association of Professional Musicians

Anna-Liisa Bezrodny is Finnish/Estonian violinist who was born into a distinguished family of musicians in Moscow, later growing up in Finland. She is currently in great demand as a soloist, recitalist, chamber musician and pedagogue around the world, receiving brilliant and praising critiques of her performances.

Already at the age of two she began her violin studies with her parents, and at the age of nine she began her studies at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Finland, in the class of her parents, Prof. Igor Bezrodny and Prof. Mari Tampere-Bezrodny. Her later years took her to London, resulting in winning the most prestigious award in Guildhall School of Music and Drama, the Gold Medal in 2006, previously won by masters such as Bryn Terfel and Jaqueline du Pré.

Over the years Anna-Liisa Bezrodny has appeared as a soloist with orchestras in the most prestigious concert venues of the world, including Gewandhaus Leipzig, Royal Festival Hall, Barbican Hall, Wigmore Hall, Cadogan Hall, Birmingham Symphony Hall, Konzerthaus Berlin, Kölner Philharmonie, Finlandia Hall in Helsinki, Estonia Concert Hall, St. Petersburg Philharmonic Hall, Moscow Conservatoire Great Hall, and countless others. Anna-Liisa has worked with outstanding maestros such as Eri Klas, Neeme Järvi, Paavo Järvi, Arvo Volmer, Kristjan Järvi, Olari Elts, Leif Segerstam, Leonid Grin, Okko Kamu, Nikolai Alexeev, Sian Edwards, Sascha Goetzel, Juha Kangas, Santtu-Matias Rouvali, and numerous others.

The past seasons have taken Anna-Liisa Bezrodny to perform with orchestras such as the London Philharmonia Orchestra, London Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO), Moscow Symphony Orchestra, Zurich Chamber Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Lahti Symphony Orchestra, Turku Philharmonic Orchestra, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, MDR-Sinfonieorchester Leipzig, Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, Tallinn Chamber Orchestra, Latvian National Symphony Orchestra, Ingolstadt Georgian Chamber Orchestra, Vilnius Philharmonic, Pannon Philharmonic Orchestra in Pécs, and countless others.

Anna-Liisa Bezrodny is a very devoted chamber musician, partaking in countless festivals around the world, and she has collaborated with some of the most outstanding musicians, ex. Ivry Gitlis, Maxim Vengerov, Ida Händel, Liana Isakadze, Alexander Rudin, Mackenzie Melemed, Jan-Erik Gustafsson, Peeter Laul, Barnabas Kelemen, Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, Lisa Batiashvili, Sayaka Shoji, Vikingur Olafsson, and many others. Her repertoire ranges from baroque to contemporary music, giving world-premieres to several pieces for ex. by Finnish and Estonian composers, such as Aulis Sallinen, Sebastian Fagerlund, Erki-Sven Tüür, Tõnu Kõrvits, Jaan Rääts, Harri Wessmann, Rein Rannap, Ülo Krigul and others.

She has recorded a debut CD on Alba Records with pianist Ivari Ilja, gaining an extremely praising response from all over the world (works including Elgar Sonata, Sibelius Humoresques, Prokofiev Sonata in D, and Rimsky-Korsakov), Tamberg Violin Concerto with Mihkel Kütson and Vanemuine Orchestra, a DVD for ERP Records Ad Patrem Meum including Haydn and Mozart Concertos, and most recently the Mendelssohn Octet with Maxim Vengerov for Decca Records. Her playing has been heard on several occasions on Finnish and Estonian National TV´s and National Radio, NBC and BBC Radio 3 in the United Kingdom.

Anna-Liisa Bezrodny is a recipient of countless awards and prizes, for example, winner of the special prize of the Rotary Club, winner of the Ian Fleming Charitable Award of the Musicians Benevolent Fund (London), winner of the Martin Musical Scholarship Award, (London), Hattori Foundation and Myra Hess Trust prizes, Ricci Foundation Winner 2009, Young Artist of the Making Music Foundation 2009, Heifetz International Violin Competition, Brahms International Competition etc. In 2005 she was awarded the PROMIS Award for talented young musicians from the London Symphony Orchestra, and in the same year received an honorary prize from the Pro Musica Foundation in Finland. She was awarded an honorary Musician of the Year Award from the Estonian Cultural Foundation, for her internationally prosperous and productive concert activity (2017) and the Annual Award of the Endowment for Music of Cultural Endowment of Estonia (2013).

Additionally to her busy solo career, Anna-Liisa Bezrodny teaches at the Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama as well as Purcell School in London, and is very passionate about music education for our future generations. Prior to this, she held a Violin Professorship at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre. She has held masterclasses in Norway, Sweden, Estonia, Finland, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Russia and the U.K., and is extremely eager to promote the young generation to involve classical music into their everyday lives. In addition Anna-Liisa Bezrodny is fluent in five languages including English, Russian, Estonian, Finnish and German.

Anna-Liisa Bezrodny‘s near future includes playing concertos such as Corigliano Red Violin, Sibelius and Beethoven Concertos in Germany, Chile and U.K., and several chamber music festivals around Europe. 

Anna-Liisa Bezrodny currently plays on a Hieronymus II Amati violin from 1678, kindly on loan from the Finnish Cultural Foundation.

Prizes:
3rd prize at the International Kociani Violin Competition in Czech Republic (1995)
1st prize at the International Frankfurt Music Festival (1999)
Winner of Estonian round of Eurovision Young Musician (2000)
ETV prize at competition-festival for Estonia’s young musicians "Con brio" (2002)
3rd prize at International Jascha Heifetz Competition in Vilnius (2005)
2nd prize at Johannes Brahms Competition in Austria, Pörtschach (2006)

“Anna-Liisa Bezrodny is outstanding – technically brilliant and interpretatively virile. She is no mere performer: she is a real and true musician. Bezrodny’s performance was gripping and assured, over-arching and yet keenly responsive to the flickering shades and shadows of moods. Her playing is impassioned and has a surging pulse. Yet she has a clear head and is capable of coolly calculating her effects without losing spontaneity. When appropriate, she plays at white heat, thrillingly, combined with superb technique”
Jessica Duchen

The homepage of Anna-Liisa Bezrodny.
 

© EMIC 2013
(updated in January 2022)

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