Russian born Austrian-Croatian violist Wladimir Kossjanenko began his musical education at age of five. After his graduation at the Bayseitova special music school in Alma-Ata he studied viola from 1986 to 1991 with Vladimir Stopitchev at the Conservatory in St. Petersburg. In this time he also visited conducting class of professor Ilya Mousin. Whilst studying he appeared as a principal violist and assistant-conductor of the “Ensemble of Leningrad Soloists”.
In 1991, following an invitation from the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra directed by Claudio Abbado, he came to Vienna. He continued his studies with Hans Peter Ochsenhofer and Thomas Kakuska at the Vienna University for Music and Performing Arts (graduated 1999 with distinction and Master of Arts degree) and later with Michael Kugel at the Royal Conservatory in Ghent, Belgium.
Important artistic experience he gained in the master classes with Norbert Brainin (Amadeus Quartet), Walter Levin (LaSalle Quartet), Gunter Pichler (Alban Berg Quartet), Milan Škampa (Smetana Quartet), Joel Krossnick (Julliard Quartet) and Issac Stern.
Between 1993 and 1996 he was a regular substitute with Vienna Philharmonic, Wiener Staatsoper and Salzburg Festival. From 1994 to 1998 he was a principal violist of the Graz Philharmonic Orchestra and Graz Opera House.
1997 he has won the Union Fund and Management Prize at the 6th International Lionel Tertis viola competition (Isle of Man, England), and the special prize and medal of the Perrenoud Foundation (Neuchâtel, Switzerland).
From 1998 to 2007 Wladimir Kossjanenko was member of the Hugo Wolf Quartet, which was awarded the European Prize for Chamber music in Paris in 1999 and the “Pasticcio” Prize of the Austrian Radio in 2003. With the Hugo Wolf Quartet he made extended concert tours throughout Europe, North and South America, United Kingdom, Ireland, Korea and Japan.
In the past 15 years Wladimir Kossjanenko has appeared as a soloist and chamber musician at most prestigious concert venues, among them in:
Carnegie Hall New York, Suntory Hall Tokyo, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Tonhalle Zürich, Konzerthaus Lucerne, Royal Albert & Wigmore Hall London, Birmingham Symphony Hall, Berliner & Kölner Philharmonie, Cité de la Musique Paris, Palais des Beaux-Arts Bruxelles, Tchaikovsky Conservatory Moscow, Mariinsky Concert Hall St.Petersburg, Herkules-Saal München, Wiener Musikverein & Konzerthaus, Mozarteum Salzburg, Brucknerhaus Linz, Stefanien-Saal Graz, Megaron Athen, National Gallery of Art & Phillips Collection Washington D.C., Los Angeles Center of Modern Art & Skirball Center Los Angeles;
as well at the festivals in Edinburgh, Trondheim, Colmar, Prague, Jerusalem, Dortmund, Schwetzingen, Geneva, Buenos Aires, Osaka, Havanna, “Cervantino” Mexico, “L’été musical dans la vallée du Lot”, “Schubertiade” Roskilde, “Schubertiade” Schwarzenberg, “Styriarte”, “Klangbogen” Vienna, “Carinthischer Sommer”, “Splitsko Ljeto”, “Stars of the White Nights” St. Petersburg etc.
He recorded numerous CDs with Vesna Podrug, Yuliya Gorenman, Jean-Guihen Queyras, Xavier Phillips, Igor Malinovsky and Hugo Wolf Quartet for the Labels “Gramola”, “Atlantis Art”, “Extraplatte” and “Cam Jazz”.
He also made many TV productions for “Unitel Classic” Berlin, TV Ireland, KBS Korea, HRT Croatia and numerous recordings for BBC, Deutschland Radio Berlin, Süd-West-Funk Baden-Baden, Radio Suisse Romand Espace 2, Radio France Paris, ORF Austria, RAI Italy, Minnesota Public Radio, Radio of Japan, Israel Radio etc.
His chamber music partners were Nicolas Angelich, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Paul Meyer, Mihaela Ursuleasa, Ensemble Wiener Collage, Ensemble XX. Century, Trio Altenberg and Trio Orlando, Tartini Quartet. At the International Waldzell Meetings – Austria he worked together with Paulo Coelho, Lilly Brett, Robert Menasse and Luc Bondy.
Wladimir Kossjanenko performed for first time new compositions by Friedrich Cerha, Johannes Maria Staud, Erich Urbanner, Zbigniew Bargielski, Otto Zykan, Ernst Leitner, Dirk D’Ase, Kenny Wheeler, Srečko Bradić and many other contemporain composers.
He appeared as a soloist with Bayerische Kammerphilharmonie, Zagreb Soloists, Jerusalem Festival Orchestra, Les Orpheistes Orchestra Sofia, Capella Lutherana Vienna, Arthur Rubinstein Philharmonic Orchestra, Zadar Chamber Orchestra, The Virtuosos of Split, Vienna Academic Symphony Orchestra etc.
As a conductor he has appeared in Austria, Germany and Croatia.
Beside his concert activities Wladimir gave master-classes for viola and chamber music in United Kingdom (University of St. Andrew, Guildhall School of Music and Drama London), Netherland (Royal Conservatory Maastricht) , Japan (University of Sapporo), Austria (International Orpheus Academy Vienna) , France (Rencontres Musicales Internationales des Graves), Greece (Thessaloniki State Conservatory), Bulgaria (New Bulgarian University Sofia), Bosnia and Hercegovina (Music Academy Sarajevo) and Croatia (Upbeat Hvar, Korčula, Brač; Elly Bašic College of Music Zagreb; Trogir Summer School).
He was a Jury-member of the Watson Forbes International Viola Competition in St Andrews / Scottland (2009), International Rudolf Matz Competition in Dubrovnik (2008, 2010, Cakovec 2013), and Boris Papandopulo Competition in Zagreb (2012).
Since 2008 he has been professor for viola and chamber music at the Academy of Arts at the University of Split/Croatia. Since 2009 he works regulary with the Zagreb Soloists.
In 2011 he formed from the students of the Academy of Arts in Split a String Orchestra with which he several concert performances and a CD production completed.
2012 he founded together with the pianist Vesna Podrug a festival “Day`s of J.S.Bach in Split”, which is organized annually for the birthday of the composer.
In 2012 he founded a new String orchestra “The Virtuosos of Split” and become its conductor and artistic director. President of Croatia Dr. Ivo Josipović took over the patronage of the first season of The Virtuosos of Split.
