Philippe Hirshhorn was a Soviet and Belgian violinist. He was born on 11 June 1946 in Riga and died on 26 November 1996 in Brussels.
He studied at the Emīls Dārziņš Riga Special Music School with Valdemars Stūresteps, then completed his final school year at the special ten-year music school attached to the Leningrad Conservatory, where he studied with Mikhail Waiman. Hirshhorn subsequently continued with Waiman at the Leningrad Conservatory and graduated from the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian State Conservatory in 1971.
In 1965, Hirshhorn received second prize at the International Paganini Competition. Two years later, while a second-year student at the Leningrad Conservatory, he won the Queen Elisabeth Competition.
He emigrated to Israel with his parents in March 1973 and lived in Belgium from 1974. Hirshhorn taught at the Utrecht Conservatory and the Royal Conservatory of Brussels. From 1981 to 1984, he led the Wallonia Chamber Orchestra, and he served on the jury of the Queen Elisabeth Competition in 1989 and 1993.
Hirshhorn performed throughout Europe, America, and Japan with such musical partners as Martha Argerich, Brigitte Engerer, Elisabeth Leonskaja, Tabea Zimmermann, David Geringas, Yuri Bashmet, Jean-Claude Vanden Eynden, James Tocco, Hans Mannes, and Helmut Barth. He also appeared with orchestras conducted by Herbert von Karajan, Uri Segal, Ferdinand Leitner, Eugene Ormandy, Paavo Berglund, Gary Bertini, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Kirill Kondrashin, and Yuri Temirkanov. Cellist Mischa Maisky described him as the most extraordinary musician he had ever encountered, praising his “mystical, hypnotic power.”
Most of Hirshhorn's recordings derive from live performances. Labels including Cypres, Doremi, Novalis, and Pavana Records issued albums featuring his performances of concertos by Paganini, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Sibelius, and Berg, as well as chamber works by Bach, Brahms, Saint-Saëns, Ravel, and Prokofiev. Other surviving recordings include Beethoven's Violin Concerto and works by Chausson, Geminiani, Schubert, Mozart, Sarasate, Bartók, Lekeu, Milhaud, Janáček, Respighi, Lutosławski, Vivaldi, Mendelssohn, Dvořák, and Schulhoff.
His notable pupils included Janine Jansen, David Grimal, Philippe Graffin, and Dmitry Makhtin. Hirshhorn was buried at Dieweg Cemetery in Brussels.
