Michael Guttman is a violinist, conductor, and music director of prominent festivals around the world, including Pietrasanta in Concerto, Crans-Montana Classics in Switzerland, Le Printemps du Violon in Paris, and Made in Polin in Warsaw. He is also the music director of the Napa Valley Symphony and the Belgian Chamber Orchestra.
Guttman received the prestigious Scopus Prize in 2014 from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem for his achievements in music, and he was also nominated for a Grammy Award for his Hindemith album with the Philharmonia Orchestra.
He was the youngest violinist ever admitted to the Royal Conservatory of Brussels at the age of 10. His debut at the age of 14 alongside Jean-Pierre Rampal led to his meeting his mentor, Isaac Stern, who recommended him for further studies at the Juilliard School in New York City, where he studied with Dorothy DeLay and members of the Juilliard Quartet.
He also studied with the legendary Russian violinist Boris Goldstein, in tribute to whom he organized a violin competition together with Professor Zakhar Bron in Bern, Switzerland, in 2014.
As one of Belgium’s leading violinists, he was chosen to represent his country at the 1992 World Expo in Seville.
Concerts at Lincoln Center, the Barbican Centre, the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, the Salle Pleyel in Paris, and throughout Asia were followed by invitations to prestigious festivals such as the Progetto Martha Argerich, the Flanders Festival, the “Elba Isola Musicale d’Europa” Festival, La Folle Journée in Nantes and Tokyo, and the Menuhin Festival Gstaad.
He premiered Double Concerto for Violin and Cello by Philip Glass with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra in North America and the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra in Asia, both performances conducted by Jaap van Zweden.
He has toured with Martha Argerich, Néstor Marconi, Nigel Kennedy, Boris Berezovsky, and Vadim Repin, among others.
After collaborating with composers and conductors such as Lukas Foss and Noam Sheriff, he developed his conducting career and, in 2017, toured Spain’s most prestigious concert halls, appearing with the legendary pianist Ivo Pogorelich.
His encounter with Astor Piazzolla encouraged him to explore different styles of tango music, and in 2017 he created the first double concerto for violin and bandoneón with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and Juan Pablo Jofre, the renowned Argentine bandoneon player.