The ARD Prize winner has recorded Lalo on gut strings and reconstructed the Violin Concerto by Gavriil Popov, long thought lost. Playing and research go hand in hand.
As a soloist, he has performed with orchestras including the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Il Giardino Armonico, the Kammerorchester Basel, the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra and the Stuttgart Philharmonic. He works with Giovanni Antonini as concertmaster and soloist (including the ‘Haydn Project 2032’) and, as a chamber musician, with Sol Gabetta (Cappella Gabetta, Solsberg Festival), Ilya Gringolts, Aylen Pritchin and Sergei Redkin.
His discography includes an album of solo works by Bach and Bartók alongside a sonata by Hansheinz Schneeberger discovered among his personal papers (First Hand Records), Lalo’s violin concertos with Heinz Holliger (Prospero Classical), Haydn’s Violin Concerto for the Haydn2032 series (Alpha Classics) and ‘Stranger Sainton’ (Fuga Libera, September 2026).
In November, he makes his debut with the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg under Giovanni Antonini.
Dmitry Smirnov is widely regarded as one of the exceptional personalities of the young generation of violinists. The ARD prizewinner performs as a soloist with leading orchestras such as the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra or the Festival Strings Lucerne and in concert halls from Carnegie Hall in New York to Nikkei Hall in Tokyo. As an ‘enfant terrible’, he inspires audiences with his bold artistic vision and outstanding virtuosity, including in historically informed interpretations of traditional repertoire. As a sought-after chamber musician, he regularly performs with partners such as Sol Gabetta and Ilya Gringolts, and also acts as concertmaster and soloist for Giovanni Antonini's ‘Haydn Project 2032’.
In the coming season, Dmitry will make his debut with orchestras such as the Oslo Philharmonic and the Stuttgart Philharmonic and will act as concertmaster for Cappella Gabetta's European tour. In March 2026, at the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall in Moscow, he will present the world premiere of the violin concerto by the illustrious Russian composer Gavriil Popov, which was thought to have been lost and which he completed after months of archival and transcription work. Recording projects with the lutenist and Harnoncourt student Luca Pianca with works by Paganini as well as the collaboration with Ilya Gringolts for Vivaldi's double concertos will enrich his discography to date, which already contains solo works from J. S. Bach to Bartók as well as various romantic violin concertos (on gut strings).
Dmitry has won prizes at numerous international competitions, including first prizes at the Moscow Oistrakh Competition (2006), the Tibor Varga Competition (2015) and the Concours d'Interprétation Musicale de Lausanne (2017), second prizes at the International Yehudi Menuhin Competition (2008) and the ARD Music Competition (2021), a controversial elimination in the semi-finals of the Queen Elisabeth Competition (2024) and three prizes at the Concours international Long-Thibaud-Crespin in 2018, including the Critics' Prize for the best interpretation of contemporary music.
Dmitry regularly performs as a soloist and chamber musician at renowned festivals, including the Salzburg Festival, Lucerne Festival, Gstaad Menuhin Festival, LuganoMusica, Heidelberger Frühling, Rheingau Music Festival, Davos Festival, Grafenegg Festival, Stresa Festival, Solsberg Festival, Festival delle Muse Salentine and Inverno Musicale (Brazil).
As a soloist, he has worked with conductors such as Giovanni Antonini, Heinz Holliger, Philippe Herreweghe, Vladimir Spivakov, Gilbert Varga, Stanislav Kochanovsky, Philipp Chizhevsky, Delyana Lazarova and Aurel Dawidiuk and has performed with orchestras such as the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Il Giardino Armonico, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Novaya Rossiya State Symphony Orchestra, Moscow Virtuosi, Festival Strings Lucerne, Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, Kammerorchester Basel, Sinfonieorchester Basel, Sinfonieorchester St. Gallen, Argovia Philharmonic, Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto and the Orchestre Royal de Chambre de Wallonie.
Dmitry was born into a musical family in St. Petersburg, where he received his first violin lessons at the age of four and continued his education at the Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory. Subsequent studies took him to the Haute École de Musique Lausanne in the class of Pavel Vernikov followed by studies with Rainer Schmidt at the Basel Music Academy. In the context of baroque music, Dmitry also performs as a violist, cellist and harpsichordist. His main instrument is a violin by Philipp Bonhoeffer (2018).
April 2025
"Most interesting interpretation of Stravinsky Concerto – live recording of Dmitry Smirnov and DSO with Delyana Lazarova..."Patricia Kopatchinskaja
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