Mincho Minchev

The Bulgarian state bought Mincho Minchev a violin — the 1716 Stradivari known as the Baron Wittgenstein, acquired for him in 1977. Born in Gabrovo in 1950, he began with Petar Charakchiev and gave his first solo concert at nine, went on to Emil Kamilarov at the Bulgarian State Conservatory, and was sent by the Ministry of Culture for two years' study in London with Yfrah Neaman. He was a laureate at the Wieniawski competition in Poland, the Paganini in Italy and the Carl Flesch in London, and for a time played a Guarneri lent to him by Joseph Szigeti's daughter. As soloist he has played with the Royal Philharmonic in London, the Dresden Philharmonic and the Bucharest Philharmonic, with Neville Marriner, Alexander Gibson, John Eliot Gardiner and Leonard Slatkin among the conductors. He became a professor at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen in 1990, chairs the Pancho Vladigerov Foundation, directs an international summer academy, and teaches at Varna Summer and the March Music Days. He has recorded for Decca, Balkanton, Capriccio and Integral and for West German Radio, and has played at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, the Bolshoi Theatre, the Royal Festival Hall and the Herkulessaal in Munich. His chairmanship of the Pancho Vladigerov Foundation dates from 1993 and the direction of the summer academy from 2002, and he has sat on the juries of the Carl Flesch, Lipizer and Yfrah Neaman competitions. He was named musician of the year by Bulgarian National Radio in 1993 and received the award for outstanding contribution to Bulgarian culture in 2010.