Profile

Jaime LAREDO(U.S.A.)

Jury Member, Violin Section

“…music-making of unusually high quality – the sort of playing which comes only from understanding, love, painstaking care, and, quite simply, great ability.” – The Guardian, London

For over six decades, Jaime Laredo has excelled in the roles of soloist, conductor, recitalist, pedagogue, and chamber musician. Since his orchestral debut at the age of eleven with the San Francisco Symphony, he has won the admiration and respect of audiences, critics and fellow musicians with passionate and polished performances. At seventeen, Laredo won the prestigious Queen Elisabeth of Belgium Competition, launching his rise to international prominence. For 45 years, Laredo toured as a member of the beloved Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio.

In the 2023-24 Season, Laredo tours throughout the United States as conductor and soloist at venues including the Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall, and as chamber musician for the first full season of Espressivo!, a new piano quartet.

Conducting and performing highlights include the Chicago, Boston, Pittsburgh, and San Francisco symphonies, Los Angeles and New York Philharmonics, Cleveland and Philadelphia Orchestras, among many others. Acclaimed premieres of Double Concertos written specifically for Laredo and his wife, cellist Sharon Robinson, are particularly memorable. He has appeared with the London and BBC Symphonies, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, with which he made numerous best-selling recordings, as well as orchestras around the globe.

Laredo has recorded nearly one hundred discs, including a Grammy Award-winning disc of Brahms Piano Quartets with Emanuel Ax, Isaac Stern and Yo-Yo Ma. His recordings range from collaborations with Glenn Gould, to double concertos with violinist Jennifer Koh and cellist Sharon Robinson plus award-winning recordings with The Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio. A 23-CD Box Set on Sony Classical and five episodes of Exploring Music on WFMT celebrate Laredo’s extraordinary legacy.

Laredo’s stewardships of the New York String Orchestra Seminar at Carnegie Hall, which he has conducted since 1993, and the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis have become beloved educational pillars of the musical community. 2024 marks Laredo’s 13th year at the Cleveland Institute of Music.

He is co-Artistic Director of Cincinnati’s Linton Chamber Music. He recently completed 20 years as Music Director of the Vermont Symphony and held the post of Artistic Director of the Chamber Music at the Y series in New York for 40 years.

Born in Bolivia, Jaime Laredo resides in Guilford, VT and Cleveland, OH.

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