# Nikolay Madoyan

Nikolay Madoyan (also spelled Nikolai Madojan, Armenian: Նիկոլայ Մադոյան; born 1 June 1973 in Yerevan) is an Armenian virtuoso violinist. Madoyan's continuous performance of 59 world classics of different styles and epochs, for more than 33 hours, has been entered in the Guinness World Records book as an “Officially Amazing” achievement.
He studied with Hrachya Bogdanyan, Zakhar Bron, Miriam Solovieff and Isaac Stern. and has been awarded the title of the Merited Artist of Armenia for supreme mastery and excellence in the promotion of arts.

## Early life and education

Nikolay Madoyan was admitted to the Tchaikovsky Music School in Yerevan, where he studied under the patronage of professor Hrachya Bogdanyan. Impressed by the 13-year-old talent, Russian violin professor Zakhar Bron invited Madoyan to continue his studies at the Novosibirsk Glinka Conservatory. In the following years Madoyan won the 1st Prize at the All-Russian Competition for Young Violinists and became the laureate and the winner of the Special Jury Prize at the International H. Wieniawski and K. Lipinski Competition for Young Violinists in Poland.
Together with Prof. Bron's wunderkind class, at the invitation of the Lübeck Music Academy, Madoyan moved to live and study in Germany where he made a debut at the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival with the Mariinsky Theater Orchestra conducted by Valery Gergiev. Nikolay Madoyan appeared in the “Five Young Russian Top Talents” series along with V. Repin, M. Vengerov, N. Luganski and E. Kissin, playing Beethoven's Violin Concerto at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam and other European venues.
In 1991, Madoyan won the 1st prize at the International Kullenkampf Competition of Violinists in Cologne, Germany. Moreover, he became the laureate at the Tokyo International Competition of Violinists and was awarded the Special Prize for the Best Performer of the Japanese Work.
Madoyan took master classes from violinists Miriam Solovieff and Isaac Stern, with whom he would perform together in France,
Nikolay Madoyan holds Ph.D. degree in Violin Performance from Berlin University of the Arts and was bestowed the title of the “Honorary Professor” at the Yerevan State Conservatory.

## Career

After graduating from the Lübeck Academy, Nikolay Madoyan launched a series of concert tours in Germany with the London Mozart Players chamber orchestra conducted by Matthias Bamert. Then he had a concert in the United Kingdom with the Novosibirsk Philharmonic Orchestra, where among other works he played the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto conducted by Arnold Katz. Madoyan's performances with the Netherlands and Rotterdam Symphonic Orchestras and Cologne Chamber Orchestra were in the highlight of the local media. Madoyan was the founder of the “Madoyan-Westenholz-Denitzen” trio, which successfully toured around Europe, featuring works by Shostakovich, Schubert, Beethoven and Ravel.
A collaboration of Nikolay Madoyan and the pianist Elizabeth Westenholz resulted in CDs, released by Kontrapunkt and Cowbell, featuring violin sonatas by Mendelson, Grieg, Schubert, Prokofiev, Strauss and Franck. In European newspapers and magazines reviews were written about Madoyan's CD records, among them the Gramophone review, which specifically highlighted Madoyan's natural feel for the right inflexion and successful collaboration with the pianist for the releases of Prokofiev's, Grieg's, and Schubert's Violin Sonatas.
In 2022 Madoyan signed with Naxos Records and released his debut album Armenian Brilliance in October 2023. The release received high praise from critics, including the BBC, Pizzicato and American Record Guide.
   “On this album, he shines with short pieces that each have a substantial character despite their limited duration. With his sometimes elegant, sometimes dreamy, sometimes robustly virtuosic playing, the violinist is able to extract many details from the works.” (Pizzicato) “The performers take care of their sound, and the playing is consistently professional and mature, with good taste and style. It is an admirable project.” (American Record Guide)

### Performances

Madoyan's repertoire includes an extensive range of violin works. He performed all six Paganini's Violin Concertos by memory in one concert.
Nikolay Madoyan has performed with a number of world's best symphony orchestras and conductors such as Helmut Muller-Bruhl, Richard Hickox, Kurt Mazur, Frans Brüggen, Claudio Abbado, Arnold Katz, Dmitri Kitayenko, Valery Gergiev, Leopold Hager, Richard Dufallo, Karen Durgaryan, Kees Bakels, Nikolai Alekseyev, Vasily Sinaisky, Erich Vechter, George A. Albrecht, Janos Furst and many more.
The list of the concert halls he performed at includes Teatro di San Carlo, Tivoli Concert Hall, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Royal Festival Hall, Verdi Theater in Milan, Berlin Kammermusiksaal, Birmingham Symphony Hall, Edinburgh Queen's Hall, Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, Berliner Philharmonie, Hamburg Musikhalle, Stuttgart Beethoven Hall, Duesseldorf Robert-Schumann-Saal, Vienna Kammermusiksaal, Reims Concert Hall, Concertgebouw Brugge, Belgrade Philharmonia, Tokyo NHK Hall, Beijing Big Concert Hall, Montreal Place des Arts, Zurich Tonhalle, Aram Khachaturian Concert Hall, Kuhmo Concert Hall, Big Concert Hall of Moscow Conservatory, West Road Concert Hall, Berliner Philharmonie and many more.
In 2025 Nikolay Madoyan has embarked on a world tour performing the 24 Caprices by Niccolo Paganini which due to their complexity are rarely played in their entirety during the recitals. The 24 Caprices tour will be launched in February at the Berlin Philharmonic, then followed at Sala Verdi in Milan, and then other venues in major countries such as France, Spain, Switzerland, USA, Canada and Japan.

## Prizes and awards
### Prizes

* 1988 – Laureate and Special Prize winner of Spectators and Journalists at the IV International H. Wieniawski and K. Lipinski Competition of Young Violinists
* 1988 – 1st prize in the All Russian Violin Competition (Novosibirsk, Russia)
* 1991 – 1st prize in the International Kulenkampf Competition of Violinists (Cologne, Germany)
* 1992 – Laureate and Special Prize winner for Best Performer of the Japanese Work at Tokyo International Competition of Violinists (Tokyo, Japan)
* 2003 – Boghossian Prize (previously President Prize) For the high performance of 15 violin miniatures of outstanding composers of 17–20 centuries

### Awards

* 1995 – Medal of the Coat of Arms of the City of Yerevan
* 2004 – Merited Artist of Armenia
* 2004 – Gold Medal of the Ministry of Culture, Armenia
* 2017 – Guinness World Record – The Longest Violin Performance, “Officially Amazing” – 33 hours, 2 minutes and 41 seconds, England
* 2023 – Knight of Centenary of Violin award (International Expert Committee)

## Discography

* 1990: Die Meisterschüler von Zakhar Bron. (N. Madoyan, D. Garett, M. Vengerov, V. Repin). Label Ambitus Musikproduktion
* 1994: Sergei Prokofiev: Violin Sonatas / Five Melodies. Label Kontrapunkt
* 1995: Grieg: Violin Sonatas. Label Kontrapunkt
* 1997: Mendelssohn-Bartoldy: Complete Sonatas for Violin and Piano. Label Kontrapunkt
* 1998: Schubert: Works for Violin and Piano. Label Kontrapunkt
* 2000: Cesar Franck: Sonata F Major / Richard Strauss: Sonata E Flat Major. Label Kontrapunkt
* 2007: Favourite Encores. Label CowBell Music
* 2022: Armenian Brilliance. Label Naxos Records