Son and
pupil of David Oistrakh, Igor Oistrakh was born in Odessa in 1931. He won first
prizes in the Budapest International Competition 1949 and Wieniawski
International Competition, Poznan, 1952. His western debut was arranged by
Victor Hochhäuser at the Royal Albert Hall, and was followed by concert tours
through USA, Europe, USSR, Canada, South America, Japan and Australia. Igor
Oistrakh has performed with the world's greatest orchestras under Klemperer,
Reiner, von Karajan, Ormandy, Giulini, Solti, Maazel, Ozawa, Rozhdestvensky and
David Oistrakh. He also performed together with Pablo Casals and Yehudi
Menuhin. For 27 years, Igor Oistrakh played in a unique duo with his father
making several recordings together. Since 1968, Igor Oistrakh has conducted
chamber and symphony orchestras as well as performing as a viola player. Since 1996 he is professor of the Royal
Conservatory in Brussels.