Biography

The winner of the 2020 Kuopio violin competition, Adrian Ibañez-Resjan, belongs to the top of Finland’s young generation of musicians. Despite his age, he is already a mature musician and an experienced professional both as a soloist and as a chamber and orchestra musician. In 2022, he was chosen as the associate concertmaster of the Kuopio Symphony Orchestra.

Adrian Ibañez-Resjan was born in 1997 in Turku to a Russian-Spanish musician family. After starting violin studies at the age of three under the guidance of his grandfather Araik Resjan, he was already invited at the age of 4 to make his debut at the Mänttä and Turku music festivals accompanied by his pianist mother Valeria Resjan. Some years later, he was asked to play  in Sibafest, the acclaimed piano artist Eero Heinonen as his chamber music partner. Adrian’s performance of Mendelssohn Violin Concerto op.64 as a soloist of the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Eri Klas was part of TV Christmas concert in 2009.

Adrian Ibañez-Resjan received the 2nd prize at the Bucharest International Violin Competition in 2007. In the Jyväskylä Violin Competition he was the winner of the A category in 2009 and B category in 2012. He also won the 1st prize in the International Grand Prize Virtuoso competition in 2015.

The young violinist’s solo career continued with challenging musical works. Solo performances include Paganini Violin Concerto No. 1 with the Nyköpings Philharmonic Orchestra, Hartmann Concerto Funebre with the Central Ostrobothnia Chamber Orchestra, Kurt Weill Concerto for Violin and Winds with the Sibelius Academy Wind Orchestra, Brahms Violin Concerto with the Sibelius Academy Symphony Orchestra, Sibelius Six Humoresques with the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra, Beethoven and Arensky violin concertos at the Isny Opernfest in Germany.

Success in domestic and international competitions opened the way for Ibañez-Resjan to concert stages in Finland and abroad, and gave the possibility to collaborate with respected artists such as Sakari Oramo, Anna-Maria Helsing, Jaakko Kuusisto, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Ola Karlsson, Jan Söderblom, Marko Ylönen and Ettore Causa.

Adrian has performed many times as a young artist in Finland and Europe, e.g. at the Gstaad Menuhin Festival 2016, at the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival 2016-2019 and at the Nauvo, Tampere, Virrat and Oulunsalo music festivals. He has also deepened his musicianship as a member of the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester on the orchestra’s tour in 2019 and Fiskars LEAD! orchestra and chamber music festivals 2019-2023.

In his master’s degree in the spring of 2023, Ibañez-Resjan performed a rare early version of Sibelius Violin Concerto from 1903. The piece had never been performed before at the Sibelius Academy, the orchestra was conducted by Elisar Riddelin.

Ibañez-Resjan has received support from the Finnish Cultural Foundation and the Pro Musica Foundation several times. He also got the privilege to play the Sibelius Academy’s Stradivarius violin in 2020-23.