"Musical Hemispheres"
Artists
Lidia Baich – Violin
Lidia Baich 
is regarded as one of the most extraordinary young violinists of the international concert scene of today. She was born in St. Petersburg; her mother is from a family of well known Russian musicians and her father is an Austrian cellist.
At the age of just four, Lidia insisted on learning the violin. Her grandfather, at the time concertmaster of the Mariinsky Orchestra, had a sixteenth violin custom built for her and became her first teacher. Since 1990, Lidia has been studying with the world famous violin teacher Prof. Boris Kuschnir at the Vienna Conservatory.
She won her first international competition at the age of eight. After an impressive series of other first prizes at both national and international competitions, Lidia finally won the 1998 Grand Prix d‘Eurovision with an outstanding performance of the 5th Concerto by Vieuxtemps. Lord Yehudi Menuhin, head of the international jury, presented her with the title of “European Musician of the Year.“
In the following years, she received invitations from all major concert halls in Europe, performing concerto repertoire as well as recitals. She performed both at the Musikverein and the Konzerthaus in Vienna, the Warsaw, Moscow and St. Petersburg Philharmonic Halls, the Mozarteum Salzburg, the Alte Oper Frankfurt, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, as well as in Prague, Munich, Rome, Milano, and many other European cities. Various concert tours have taken her to Japan, China, Korea, Israel, South Africa, USA, Argentina and Brazil. In 2006, she gave her debut at the Salzburg Festival.
Among many others Lidia Baich has performed with the New York Philharmonic conducted by Lorin Maazel, the Concertverein Vienna conducted by Vladimir Fedoseyev, the St. Petersburg Philharmonic conducted by Yuri Temirkanov, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra conducted by Jukka-Pekka Saraste, the RSO Vienna conducted by Ralf Weikert, the Taipei Symphony Orchestra conducted by Rudolf Barshai and the Dutch Philharmonic conducted by Yakov Kreizberg, as well as with the Camerata Salzburg, the Orchestre National de France, the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, the NHK Symphonic Orchestra Tokyo and the Buenos Aires Philharmonic Orchestra. She also enjoys chamber music, performing regularly with pianists Richard Hyung-Ki Joo, Matthias Fletzberger and Luca Monti.
Within a few days, Lidia Baich 
performed two concerts in St. Petersburg, both with the Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as with legendary rock & roll band Deep Purple, demonstrating her remarkable musical versatility. Lorin Maazel invited her to join star tenor Andrea Bocelli on his world tour in 2002. Lidia performed along his side at the Wembley Arena in London, at the Bercy Paris, as well as at a number of other major stadiums on both sides of the Atlantic. The year after she was part of the ten year anniversary „Pavarotti and Friends“ in Modena.
In 2008 Lidia performed and presented the opening of the Wiener Festwochen, broadcast on live TV throughout Europe. Her debut album with Deutsche Grammophon / Universal was released recently. She plays a violin by Joseph Guarnerius del Gesú „ex Guilet“ from 1727, on loan from the National Bank of Austria.
Lidia’s hobbies include painting, falconry and natural sciences. She supports a number of organisations dedicated to the protection of the environment.