Grigori Katz

Grigori Katz, born in Smolensk / Russia, received his first violin lessons at the age of five from his father, the conductor and violist, Sakar Katz. At the age of twelve he switched to the double bass. After completing his education at the School of Music at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow, he studied at the University of Music "Hanns Eisler" in Berlin, where he graduated with distinction in 1997.

Grigori Katz has won several prizes for contrabass and chamber music contests, including the International Contrabass Competition in Edinburgh (1998), the International Chamber Music Competition in Thessaloniki (2002), and the Max Reger Chamber Music Competition in Sondershausen (2006).

He also performed with his brother Pawel Katz (violin) as a duo “Katz & Katz”, in the “Katz-Trio” with Sachar Katz as well as with other internationally renowned Soloists such as Gidon Kremer, Yuri Bashmet and Boris Pergamenschikow.

From 1990, Grigori Katz worked in various orchestras, mainly as a solo contrabassist, at the Deutschen Symphonie Orchester Berlin, the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, the Musica Vitae Chamber Orchestra and the Royal Chapel in Copenhagen, and worked with renowned conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Vladimir Ashkenazy or Nikolaus Harnoncourt. Since 2004, Grigori Katz has been solo contrabassist of the Sinfonieorchester of St.Gallen.