Philip A. Draganov is professor of violin at the Bern University of the Arts and also leads the violin class in the PreCollege Music of the Zurich University of the Arts. Since 2010, he has been artistic director of the Swiss International Music Academy of YOUTH CLASSICS.
Among his students are concertmasters and members of European orchestras as well as winners and prize winners of numerous international violin competitions such as the International Fritz Kreisler Competition (Vienna, Austria), the International Marschner Competition (Germany), the “Concorso Violinistico Internazionale Andrea Postacchini” (Fermo, Italy), the International Berlin Music Competition or the International Louis Spohr Competition for Young Violinists (Weimar, Germany).
With his “exuberant musical power and impulsive virtuosity” (Hamburger Abendblatt) Philip A. Draganov has been delighting audiences in Europe, Asia and the USA for over 30 years. He has performed in the world’s most important concert halls such as Carnegie Hall/New York, the Tonhalle Zurich, the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing, the Cologne Philharmonie, the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden or the Alte Oper in Frankfurt and at important festivals such as the Aspen Music Festival/USA or the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival.
Draganov has numerous concert experiences at all levels: as a soloist, chamber musician, concertmaster or section leader of various orchestras.
He has worked with conductors such as Günter Wand, Herbert Blomstedt, Christoph von Dohnány, Michael Tilson Thomas, Alan Gilbert, Bernard Haitink, Sir Roger Norrington, or Christoph Eschenbach in various orchestras such as the NDR Symphony Orchestra/Hamburg (today: NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra), the Saarland State Theater Saarbrücken, or the Zurich Chamber Orchestra.
Still during his own studies Philip A. Draganov decided to promote musical talents. For almost 20 years he has pursued this task with passion, dedication and perseverance. Based on his own training in various countries in Europe and the USA, his own teaching method combines the traditions of the American, Russian and various European violin schools.
He gives master classes in Europe and Asia and serves as an adjudicator in international competitions.
Philip A. Draganov plays a violin by the Stradivari pupil Tomaso Balestrieri from 1769, but also with great pleasure modern instruments by the violin makers Stephan von Baehr (Paris/Hamburg) and Peter Greiner (London/Zurich).
