Alexander Gilman was born in Bamberg and grew up in a family of musicians. At the age of seven he marked his debut at the Gasteig in Munich. From the age of sixteen he worked with the famous violin teacher Dorothy DeLay in New York and attended master classes by Itzhak Perlman, Aaron Rosand, Ingolf Turban, Igor Ozim, Akiko Tatsumi and Mikhail Kopelman. Alexander Gilman graduated with distinction from Zakhar Bron’s master class at the Hochschule für Musik in Cologne. He then moved to the Hochschule der Künste in Zurich for his master’s degree, from which he also graduated with distinction.
Gilman’s career has been marked by the award of numerous prizes at international competitions in Europe and the USA, including the WestLB Music Competition in 2006. As part of this award, the Stradivari “Ex-Croall” from 1684, which had previously been loaned to Frank-Peter Zimmermann, was made available to him. Alexander Gilman was holder of a bursary from the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben and multiple winner of the Deutscher Musikinstrumentenfonds competition. Thomastik-Infeld, the maker of violin strings, chose Alexander to be a Thomastik-Infeld Artist. He is currently playing a violin made by Giovanni Battista Guadagnini, Parma 1769.
Alexander Gilman has worked with famous conductors such as Neeme Järvi, David Zinman, Bernard Haitink, Dan Ettinger, Mario Venzago, Michael Sanderling and Perry So. His chamber-music partners include Maximilian Hornung, Nils Mönkemeyer, Juliane Banse, Matan Porat, Franzisco Araiza and Erik Schumann. Alexander is a popular guest at international music festivals as both a soloist and a teacher. His concerts have been recorded and broadcasted by numerous radio and television stations, including the Bavarian Radio, WQXR New York, Rai Italia and NHK Japan.
Alexander Gilman’s continuously expanding repertoire encompasses a wide spectrum across all major genres of music which is reflected by his award-winning recordings on OehmsClassics. They were rewarded with enthusiastic reviews by major magazines like “The Strad”, “FonoForum” and “Ensemble”. His album of violin concerti by Barber, Korngold et al with the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Perry So, received outstanding critical acclaim. He also received the Diapason d’Or prize and many other awards for this album.
For the past few years, the violinist has been particularly active in New Music and participated in numerous premieres of commissions by contemporary composers such as Benedikt Schiefer, Uwe Lohrmann, Matthijs van Dijk and Konstantia Gourzi.
Alongside his activities as a soloist, Alexander established himself as an internationally recognized teacher in recent years. He is passionate about fostering young talents and holistically preparing them for a life as professional musicians. The fact that his students regularly win competitions demonstrates the high quality of his teaching work.Alexander Gilman is currently teaching at the Royal College of Music in London and at the Kalaidos University in Switzerland. Before that, he taught at the Zurich University of Arts (ZHdK) and at the Amadeus Music Academy in Vienna where he was also responsible for the entire String Department.
Additionally, Alexander holds master classes at universities and festivals across the world, such as the Summit Music Festival New York, Baptist University Hong Kong, Academy of Fine Arts Singapore, Dubrovnik Festival, University of Cape Town and many more. He is also in demand as a juror at a variety of international music competitions.
