Artists

Biography:

Frank Almond enjoys an active career as a soloist, recitalist, educator and mentor. For 25 years, he served as Concertmaster with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra (until 2020). Previously, he held concertmaster positions with the Rotterdam Philharmonic with Valery Gergiev and was Guest Concertmaster of the London Philharmonic Orchestra with Kurt Masur.

Frank has regularly performed as a soloist with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and as soloist and chamber musician throughout the US, Europe, and Asia. He is the founder of his own chamber music series based in Milwaukee, Frankly Music, consistently recognized for innovative programming and its ability to attract leading performers from around the world. His most recent appearances were with the Pacific Symphony Orchestra, the Music Academy of the West (CA), the Sarasota Music Festival (FL) and the Manchester Music Festival (VT).

At 17, Frank Almond was one of the youngest prizewinners in the history of the Niccolò Paganini Competition in Genoa, Italy, and five years later was one of two American prizewinners at the Eighth International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, which was documented in an award-winning PBS film.

His extensive recording discography includes a wide range of repertoire on various labels that have garnered multiple Grammy nominations.

His most recent series of recordings, A Violin’s Life, chronicles the extraordinary history and lineage of his current violin, the 1715 ‘Lipiński’ Stradivari. This instrument has direct ties to Giuseppe Tartini, Edvard Grieg, Johannes Brahms, and Robert and Clara Schumann. The present album – Volume 3 of A Violin’s Life – features works by Grieg, Tartini, and the newly discovered Piano Trio of Amanda Maier.

On January 27, 2014, the ‘ex-Lipiński’ Stradivari was stolen from Almond in an armed robbery after a concert. The violin was recovered nine days later, and the dramatic, and sometimes entertaining, story continues to make headlines around the world. The robbery and subsequent recovery are the subject of a documentary film that premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in April 2019. At Alice Tully Hall, Frank told the story of the stolen Stradivari on the critically acclaimed storytelling program, The Moth Radio Hour, heard on 500 Radio stations around the world.

Community outreach, and giving back specifically to the Milwaukee community, are also at the heart of Frank Almond’s artistic priorities. He mentors young musicians of all performing levels and backgrounds, and regularly performs in nontraditional venues where classical music is rarely seen or heard. Currently he is the Johnston Artist-in-Residence at the Milwaukee Youth Symphony, the largest youth arts program in the United States.

Frank holds two degrees from the Juilliard School, where he studied with the highly esteemed teachers Dorothy Delay, Felix Galimir, and Harvey Shapiro. Other major influences were his studies with Joseph Silverstein, Rafael Druian, and Eugene Drucker. He currently serves on the Faculty at Roosevelt University in Chicago. Previous teaching positions include positions at Northwestern University and Texas Christian University.

Frank currently lives in Milwaukee with his two daughters and a remarkably large cat named Toby.

More information about Frankly Music, A Violin’s Life and the ‘Lipiński’ Stradivari is available at frankalmond.com