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Vladimir Khalikulov, viola
Vladimir Khalikulov is principal violist of the Monterey Symphony since 1994. He also has served as principal violist of Sacramento Philharmonic and Reno Philharmonic. As a soloist with orchestra he has performed the North American premiere of the Concerto for Two Violas and String Orchestra by Marina Kalantaroff in 1995 and the San Francisco premiere of the Sonata for Gran’ Viola e Orchestra of Nicolo Paganini in 1995, as well as the Telemann and Hoffmeister concerti with Monterey Symphony. In the USSR he made world premieres of four viola concerti written for him, including concerti of Alexander Pechenyuk, Ilya Dimov, Marina Kalantaroff, and Khabibulla Rachimov. Highlights of 1994 were performances of the Mozart Sinfonia Concertante with Philip Levy and the Bach Brandenburg Concerto N. 6 for two violas with Abraham Rozenblit, member of Israel Philharmonic orchestra and Mr. Khalikulov’s former teacher.
Mr. Khalikulov started his musical education at age 8 at the Glière Special Music School in Tashkent. His teachers were Rutberg, Rozenblit, and A. Braverman. In 1976, after five years of studies with Nicolai Maschenko and Alexander Polonsky, he earned his MA in Music from the State Conservatory of Uzbekistan. He completed his doctoral studies in 1979 at the Moscow State Conservatory with Professor Fyodor Druzhinin. He studied and performed the Shostakovich Sonata for Viola and Piano with Professor Druzhinin, to whom the sonata was dedicated. During his tenure (1971-1985) as violist of the Uzbek Philharmonic String Quartet, he continued postdoctoral studies (1980-1983) with Victor Gvozdetsky and members of the Borodin String Quartet at the Moscow State Conservatory. In 1983, the Uzbek State String Quartet won the Third Prize in the USSR Borodin String Quartet Competition.
From 1979 to 1990 Mr. Khalikulov taught viola and chamber music at the State Conservatory in Tashkent; many of his students hold major positions in professional orchestras and as members of string faculty in Uzbekistan, Russia, Belarus, and abroad. From 1985-1990 he was principal violist of the Opera and Ballet Orchestra of the Bolshoi Theater of Uzbekistan and was appointed to a Viola Soloist position with the Uzbek Philharmonic. As a soloist with various orchestras, he performed with the Moscow Philharmonic in 1987 (Dimov concerto), the Glinka Festival (Mozart Sinfonia Concertante with violinist Andrei Korsakov) and the Third USSR Viola Festival (three viola concerti). He performed as a soloist with conductors Kiril Kondrashin, Roman Matsov, Vladimir Ziva, Enrique Dimek, violinists Mikhail Vaiman, Alexander Vinnitsky, Igor Oistrakh, Mikhail Kopelman, and violist Mikhail Kugel. As an enthusiastic promoter of classical music, he organized an historic recital tour for Alexander Vinnitsky (Professor at Moscow Conservatory and Sibelius Music Academy of Helsinki) and performed with him the Mozart duets: ten recitals in ten days throughout Uzbekistan. On tour with a cultural delegation to Bulgaria, his recitals including the Shostakovich Viola Sonata were broadcast nationwide.
Mr. Khalikulov has been on the faculty and performed at international festivals: Printemps Musical au Moulin, Moulin d’Andé, France 2004; Beverly Hills Festival of Chamber Music and Master Classes, 2004;International Academy of Music, Castelnuovo di Garfagnana, Italy, 2012; Summit Music Festival, New York, 2012. He is engaged to teach and perform at music festivals in Spain and Germany in 2017.