Vesna Stefanovic Gruppman is a Grammy-winning artist, critically acclaimed by major international music publications as a violin and viola soloist, recording artist, concertmaster, pedagogue, and member of the Gruppman Duo.

The First Prize winner of the Jaroslav Kocian International Violin Competition, and the seven consecutive First Prize winner of the National Violin Competition of Yugoslavia, her native country, Vesna started her solo career at a very young age. Being a child prodigy, she was also awarded a special scholarship to study music at the prestigious Special Central Music School for Talented Young Musicians in Moscow, USSR, and the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory. Her teachers and mentors were legendary violin and viola artists David Oistrakh, Yuri Yankelevich, Igor Bezrodny, and Zinaida Gillels. Later, upon her arrival in the US, she was also accepted in the violin class of Jascha Heifetz.

Vesna’s performing career in the last two decades has demanded that she perform as a soloist on three different continents, with such orchestras as Rotterdam Philharmonic, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the Mariinsky Orchestra of St. Petersburg, the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, Munich Chamber Orchestra, the Florida Philharmonic, the Chicago Festival Orchestra, the Utah Symphony, the San Diego Symphony, the Edmonton Symphony, the Moscow Philharmonic, the Kiev Philharmonic, the New Zealand Symphony, and many more.

Vesna Gruppman has recorded solo and chamber music works with Naxos, Koch International, Biddulph, Evidence, and Video Artists International labels. Vesna’s solo performances and recordings have received the highest international praise. Among them are: LA Times “...drive and passion...deft balance, elegant phrasing, and burnished shimmer.” Gramophone Magazine “...impeccable taste and a beautiful singing tone”; Classic Disc Digest “...electrifyingly intense, ripe-toned viola playing”; S.L Tribune “...Gruppmans showed impeccable control and deeply felt artistry.” --Deseret News; Edmonton Journal “...Mesmerizing performance...above the stratosphere of mere virtuoso showcase...gripping sense of partnership...”; Syndicated Column “...virtuosity and magical insight.”

San Diego Magazine named Vesna and Igor “the Violin Archangels” for their performances of Malcolm Arnold’s Concerto for Two Violins and Orchestra, which the Gruppman Duo also recorded on the Koch International label in collaboration with the composer himself. American Record Guide’s critic wrote: “Listen to those violins sing! The soloists are a husband-and-wife team...The performance is excellent.”

Among Vesna Gruppman’s most recent solo events is Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw Grote Zaal performance of the music written by contemporary Ukrainian composers. Also, a recent event worth mentioning is recording the newly composed Concerto for Two Violins and Orchestra with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra in Glasgow. This concerto was specially written for Vesna and Igor Gruppman and dedicated to them by the Grammy-winning American composer Michael Fine.

Other prominent contemporary composers who have written and dedicated their works to Vesna Gruppman are the Soviet/German composer Vladimir Tarnopolsky, the Ukrainian composer Alfred Momotenko, the American composer David Ward-Steinman, the Dutch composer Paul Brugge, the Russian composer Nikolai Rakov, and the Serbian composer Petar Nikolic.

In addition to her solo career, Vesna has had a successful career as a pedagogue. A dedicated teacher, she holds two doctoral degrees: a doctorate in violin performance and a doctorate in pedagogy. For the past 20 years, Vesna Gruppman’s name has been recognized among pedagogues of American as well as European music institutions. In 2002, the American String Teachers Association honored Vesna Gruppman with the “College Teacher of the Year” award, one of the highest recognitions in the field of teaching.

Since 2004, Vesna has held the Professor of Violin and Viola position at the Rotterdam Conservatory in the Netherlands, and presently she is also on the faculty of the Barcelona Conservatory, ESMUC (Escola Superior de Musica de Catalunya).

Vesna Gruppman has been a frequent lecturer on pedagogy and performing techniques, instructing not only students but also teachers at various music institutions in Europe. Vesna is the Director of the Gruppman International Music Institute, an international teaching platform. She is also the founding member of the First Chair Academy, a unique orchestral leadership project.

The list of Vesna Gruppman’s students includes renowned violin soloists, Laureates of international violin competitions (Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels, Lipizer International Violin Competition), and concertmasters of major orchestras.

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