Dimitri Ashkenazy

Dimitri Thor Ashkenazy (born October 8, 1969, in New York City) is an Icelandic clarinetist living in Switzerland. He is the son of pianist and conductor Vladimir Ashkenazy and has toured Europe with him, as well as performing under him with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.

Biography Dimitri Ashkenazy was born into a musically successful family: he is the son of pianist and conductor Vladimir Ashkenazy and Þórunn Jóhannsdóttir, and his brother Vovka is also a professional pianist. In 1978 he moved with his parents from his native Iceland to Switzerland, where he has lived ever since. At the age of 9, he was involved in a waterskiing accident in Greece when one of his legs was slashed by the propeller of a speedboat, severing the sciatic nerve.

Since 1991, he has given concerts all over the world, including at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, the Sydney Opera House, and the St. Petersburg Philharmonic and with renowned artists such as Peter Maxwell Davies, Krzysztof Penderecki, Edita Gruberová, Nikolai Morozov, Barbara Bonney and Bernd Glemser. and George Palmer's concerto It Takes Two, for two clarinets and chamber orchestra.