Valery Klimov

Valery Aleksandrovich Klimov (October 16, 1931 – February 22, 2022) was a Soviet violinist.

Biography Klimov was born on October 16, 1931 in Kyiv (then in the Soviet Union, now in Ukraine). He began to study music under the guidance of his father - conductor and teacher . From the age of 7 (with a break for evacuation in Stalingrad during the war) he studied at the Odessa Music Boarding School for Gifted Children with Pyotr Stolyarsky (now called the School of Stolyarsky). Starting in 1945, he studied with B.Z. Mordkovich. In 1949 he performed public concerts featuring repertoire by Alexander Glazunov, W.A. Mozart and Felix Mendelssohn. There he met David Oistrakh whom he studied with at the Moscow Conservatory.

Awards and titles Laureate of the International Violin Competition at the III World Festival of Youth and Students in Berlin (1951) Laureate of the International Violin Competition. M. Long and J. Thibaud in Paris (1955, 6th Prize) Laureate of the violin competition named after J. Slavik and F. Ondřicek as part of the Prague Spring International Music Festival (1956, 1st prize) Laureate of the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow (1958, 1st prize) Honored Artist of the RSFSR (1962) People's Artist of the RSFSR (1972) People's Artist of the USSR (1989).