Dmitri Makhtin (born February 12, 1975, in Leningrad) is a Soviet and Dutch violinist. He began studying music at the age of four with his parents, who were professional musicians. In 1981, he entered the Leningrad Secondary Special Music School attached to the conservatory. He received an award at the All-Russian Young Violinists’ Competition in Novosibirsk in 1989.
In 1990, Makhtin received a scholarship from the Young Musicians Foundation in the United States and gave concerts in New York, Los Angeles, and Dallas. He moved to the Netherlands in 1992 and studied from 1992 to 1995 with Philippe Hirschhorn, Herman Krebbers, and Eduard Schmieder.
Makhtin received second prize and the Virtuoso special prize at the Hohenlohe Cultural Foundation International Violin Competition in Schönthal, Germany, in 1993. In 1994, he was an award winner at the Paganini Violin Competition in Italy and the Louis Spohr International Competition for Young Violinists in Weimar, and received a special prize at the Tibor Varga International Violin Competition in Switzerland. In 1996, he won first prize and two gold medals for best interpretation at the University of South Africa International Violin Competition in Pretoria.
In 2005, Makhtin received the German Record Critics’ Award in the chamber music category and an ECHO Klassik award for Best Chamber Music Recording of the Year, in the 19th-century ensemble category. The award-winning recording featured Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Trio élégiaque No. 2 in D minor, Op. 9, and Dmitri Shostakovich’s Piano Trio No. 2 in E minor, Op. 67, with cellist Alexander Knyazev and pianist Boris Berezovsky.