13 Facts About Alina Ibragimova

Alina Rinatovna Ibragimova is a Russian-British violinist.

Alina Ibragimova's family was musical, and she began playing the violin at age four.

Alina Ibragimova was aged 10 in 1996 when her father, Rinat Ibragimov, took up the post of principal double bass with the London Symphony Orchestra, and the family moved to England.

In December 1998, Alina Ibragimova performed with Nicola Benedetti at the opening ceremony of the 50th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights at UNESCO in Paris; they played Bach's double violin concerto under the baton of Yehudi Menuhin.

Menuhin died three months later, and Alina Ibragimova performed the slow movement of the same concerto at his funeral in Westminster Abbey.

Alina Ibragimova has studied with Christian Tetzlaff under the auspices of the Kronberg Academy Masters programme.

The next breakthrough came in 2005 when Alina Ibragimova played and directed Mozart's second violin concerto with the Kremerata Baltica in Mozartwoche at the Salzburg Mozarteum.

Alina Ibragimova has performed concertos with the London Symphony Orchestra, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, the Philharmonia Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Radio-Sinfonie-Orchester Frankfurt, and the Seattle Symphony, working with conductors including Sir Charles Mackerras, Valery Gergiev, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Paavo Jarvi, Richard Hickox and Osmo Vanska.

In 2005, Alina Ibragimova formed the period-instrument Chiaroscuro Quartet, a string quartet specialising in music from the classical and early romantic periods played on gut strings with historical bows.

Alina Ibragimova frequently collaborates with pianist Cedric Tiberghien, and is a founding member of the Chiaroscuro Quartet.

Alina Ibragimova has received a number of awards, including the Royal Philharmonic Society Young Artist Award 2010, and Emily Anderson Prize, Borletti-Buitoni Trust, and a Classical BRIT.

Alina Ibragimova was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire in the 2016 New Year Honours for services to music.

In 2015 Alina Ibragimova married Tom Service, a writer and classical music critic, whom she met when he interviewed her for The Guardian.