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his time there he became a laureate of international
competitions, such as Georg Kulenkampf (1994,
Cologne), Transnet (1996, Pretoria) and Yehudi
Menuhin (1998). In 2001 he was a finalist at the
Queen Elizabeth Violin Competition and won the
2001 Reuters Prize. The following year he won the
Tibor Varga International Violin Competition.
In 1998, Brovtsyn made his UK debut with the
BBC Philharmonic conducted by Rumon Gamba.
In 2000, he became a student of David Takeno at
the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and
in 2004, he won the GSMD´s highest award, the
Gold Medal (past winners include Jacqueline
du´Pre, Tasmin Little and Bryn Terfel).
As a soloist, Boris Brovtsyn has collaborated with
artists such as Yuri Bashmet, Gerd Albrecht, Yan
Pascal Tortelier and Arvo Volmer to name but
a few, and appeared with Orchestre Philharmo-
nique de Monte-Carlo, Orchestre Philharmonique
de Strasbourg, Orchestre National de Belgique,
BBC Philharmonic, Orchestre National de Lille,
Moscow State Chamber Orchestra and Sao Paulo
Symphony Orchestra. He has performed at festi-
vals including the Verbier, Lugano, Edinburgh,
Oxford Chamber Music and Ryedale.
Recently he has played with the Orchestre de la
Suisse Romande in Geneva and Warsaw, the
Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Utah Sym-
phony Orchestra, and he has participated in the
Jerusalem Chamber Music Festival. Future en-
gagements include among others performances
with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra un-
der Vassily Sinaisky, with the Chamber Orchestra
of the Enescu at the Festival “George Enescu” in
Bucharest, with the Sao Paulo Symphony Orches-
tra under Jakub Hrusa and a tour with the Warsaw
Philharmonic under Antoni Wit.
Levon Chilingirian / violin
Levon Chilingirian was born in Cyprus to Arme-
nian parents. He was introduced to music from
a very early age through his pianist mother and
violinist great uncle. When the Chilingirian fam-
ily immigrated to London in 1960, Levon concen-
trated on the violin, studying at the Royal College
of Music where he is now professor. His long-
standing partnership with Clifford Benson was
launched by winning the first prize in the 1969
BBC Beethoven Competition, followed by the
Munich Duo first prize in 1971. Recital appear-
ances have taken the duo to most European coun-
tries and their recordings include works by Schu-
bert and Frank Bridge. From his student days,
Levon Chilingirian was drawn to the wonderfully
rich chamber music repertoire and in 1971 he
formed The Chilingirian Quartet with three other
ex-Royal College of Music students. The Quar-
tet has held residencies at Liverpool and Sussex
Universities and is currently attached to the Royal
College of Music. They have become one of the
most active and celebrated string quartets on the
international scene with tours to fifty countries
on six continents. The Quartet has played in more
than fifty major centres in North America as well
as regular visits in Europe to all the capital cities
and main festivals, resulting in a strong and de-
voted following.
They make regular appearances at London’s Wig-
more and Queen Elizabeth Halls and have given
Beethoven cycles in London, Sydney and Mel-
bourne, a Schubert cycle in Paris, and premieres
of works by John Tavener and Hugh Wood. A
Boris Brovtsyn
