The last time that Russian violinist Ilya Gringolts performed in his home country was in August 2021, seven months before Russia invaded Ukraine. Back then, Gringolts was embroiled in a contract dispute which, he says, resulted in him not being paid for his last performances in Russia. Now, he is glad he did not accept what he calls “dirty money”.
The 40-year-old has not lived in Russia for more than two decades, having left after becoming the youngest ever winner of Italy’s international violin competition, the Premio Paganini, when he was a teenager. After that he went to Juilliard in New York, where he studied under legendary violinist Itzhak Perlman, and was soon regarded as one of the best violin soloists in the world. But to this day, his extended family are living in St Petersburg, though his parents fled the country soon after the invasion of Ukraine.
