UNICEF People

Maxim Vengerov

© UNICEF/HQ97-0479/TOUTOUNJI

"Helping children in need and sharing classical music with young people is perhaps the greatest responsibility of my life," says Maxim Vengerov, the Siberian violin virtuoso. "I know the joy and the meaning that music can bring to children, even in the most difficult circumstances. If I can touch them and perhaps inspire them, I’ll feel very proud."

Maxim Vengerov was appointed UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador on 15 July 1997. He is the first classical musician to be nominated to such a role.

International language

Prior to his appointment, Vengerov had already given concerts to benefit children in several European countries. His first official undertaking with UNICEF, in September 1997, was to organize a musical exchange with children from Opus 118 – a violin group from Harlem, New York. The following month he gave a private recital in Chicago to benefit UNICEF-supported health and education programmes. It was the first of many successful fundraising efforts.

Vengerov’s first UNICEF field trip was to Bosnia and Herzegovina in December 1997, where he visited UNICEF-supported health and water projects. He also played for and with children in music schools around Sarajevo.

In March 1999, Vengerov visited the War Children’s Project in Uganda, meeting children who had been abducted and been exploited -- sexually, for their labour or as child soldiers. He also visited schools and camps for displaced persons, as well as an AIDS hospital in Kampala, playing for children wherever he went.

© UNICEF/HQ00-0822/BRONSTEIN

In the remote village of Baan Nong Mon Tha, children from the Karen hiiltribe ethnic group follow Maxim Vengerov, in a human chain, to a school run by a UNICEF-assisted NGO. Thailand, 2000.

Later in 1999, Vengerov played in the concert 'For the Children of Kosovo', in London, which raised money for the work of the United Kingdom Committee for UNICEF. He then undertook a field mission to Kosovo, during which he gave a concert with the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra to benefit the Hospital for Children with Cerebral Palsy in Belgrade.

In November 2000, Vengerov travelled to Thailand, visiting a Bangkok rehabilitation centre for girl juvenile offenders and a centre that provides non-formal education, skills training and other services for working children.

Throughout his time as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, Vengerov has generously supported the fundraising work of various UNICEF National Committees and used both his dedicated field missions and his concert tours to promote UNICEF's work and to inspire children with music.

Prodigious talent

Maxim Vengerov was born in 1974 in Novosibirsk, the capital of western Siberia. He gave his first recital at the age of five and played his first concerto with an orchestra when he was only six.

Vengerov launched his professional career in 1990, at the age of 15, after winning the Carl Flesch International Violin Competition. He is now one of the most sought-after performers in classical music and has performed with almost every major orchestra and maestro. At the 2002 Gramophone magazine awards, he was named Artist of the Year.