Nikolaj Znaider became a star violinist in northwestern Europe, performing and recording most major works in the violin concerto repertory. In the 2010s, he branched out into conducting. Sometimes known by his birth name, Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider, he was born on July 5, 1975 in Copenhagen. His father was a Polish Jew who had moved to Israel and then to Copenhagen, and his mother's family were settled Danish Jews. Znaider's family would join with other members of Copenhagen's small Jewish community for religious holiday celebrations. Znaider studied in Copenhagen with Boris Kuschnir, and he won top prizes at the Carl Nielsen International Music Competition in Denmark at 16 and, the following year, at the prestigious Queen Elisabeth Music Competition in Brussels, Belgium. That was enough to land Znaider a place at the Juilliard School in New York, studying with famed teacher Dorothy DeLay, among others. He has concertized widely in Europe and North America and is especially noted for his recording career, which began with a live album on the small Cypres label in 1999. In 2001, Znaider was signed to the major EMI label and has never looked back, recording since then mostly for major labels: RCA Red Seal, Sony Classical, Dacapo, and the growing LSO Live imprint of the London Symphony Orchestra. He has also issued (in 2006) an album of Mozart piano trios with Daniel Barenboim and Kyril Zlotnikov. Znaider's growing conducting career has not simply involved conducting from the violin; he was appointed principal guest conductor of the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra in 2010. Znaider's cycle of Mozart's violin concertos, on two albums, appeared on LSO Live in 2018. Znaider plays one of the most famous violins in the world, the Guarneri "del Gesu" instrument of 1741, owned for many years by Fritz Kreisler. Kreisler played the violin in the premiere of Edward Elgar's Violin Concerto in B minor, Op. 61, a work in which Znaider himself has specialized in concert. He returned in 2023 with the album Aux Étoiles, leading France's Orchestre National de Lyon on the Palazzetto Bru Zane label. ~ James Manheim, Rovi