VC Artist Sergey Malov Wins OPUS KLASSIK Award

The Russian violin, viola, and violoncello da spalla virtuoso receives the award for his most recent album released on the Solo Musica label

VC Artist Sergey Malov performs on cello da spalla on his album titled, “Bach 6 Suites for Violoncello Solo,” which was released last year. The CD won the Solo Recording Instrument category of the 2021 OPUS Klassik awards. 

Of the album, Malov told The Violin Channel: “I hope listeners will be able to appreciate the lightness of the original instrument and appreciate the essence of this wonderful music from another angle.”

The OPUS Klassik Gala was held last week at the Berlin Konzerthaus. The award organization wrote on their social media, “After a long time without concerts, we are grateful to be able to experience so many great artists live on stage.”

Malov joined artists Selina Ott and En-Chia Lin, Helen Dabringhaus and Fil Liotis, Robert Neumann, Andreas Sieling, Trio Parnassus, Tabea Zimmerman, and Dejan Lazić and Zen Hu for the gala performance. 

(Image courtesy: OPUS Klassik/Facebook)

Malov is a graduate of Mozarteum University Salzburg and Berlin’s “Hanns Eisler” University of Music, where he studied with Thomas Riebl, Antje Weithaas, Eberhard Feltz, and Andreas Schreiber. 

He is also a former first-prize winner at the Michael Hill International Violin Competition, Salzburg International Mozart Competition, and Tokyo International Viola Competition.

In 2017, Malov was appointed to a faculty position at Switzerland's Zurich University of the Arts and in 2018, joined the roster of the German-based Weigold & Böhm International Artists.

He currently performs on violins made by Ferdinando Gagliano and Matthieu Devuys, a Pietro Gaggini Viola, a Gioffredo Cappa baroque violin, and a Dmitry Badiarov violoncello da spalla.

Malov joins VC Artists Augustin Hadelich and Pablo Ferrández as OPUS Klassik award winners, who received Instrumentalist of the Year and Young Artist of the Year, respectively. 

This year's other award recipients include pianist Daniil Trifonov, violinist Daniel Hope, conductor Marc Albrecht, composer Olga Neuwirth, and the Quatuor Ébène string quartet. For a full list of winners, click here.

You can watch the Gala performance below; Malov’s cello da spalla performance begins at the 48-minute mark.