Apogee Foundation Scholars are Honored with Seven of the World's Most Prestigious Awards for Young Performing Artists

The Apogee Foundation today announced that two of its Apogee World Scholars, dancer Vadim Muntagirov and violinist Dmitrij Smirnov, had won seven of the world's most prestigious performing arts competitions in the last seven months. Muntagirov's victories were at four major events in the course of five months, and Smirnov's at three major events in the course of four months. Muntagirov's awards included the grand prize at the St. Petersburg International Ballet Competition where, at 16, he was the youngest participant; second prize at the Perm International Ballet Competition (where first prize was awarded to a Marinsky soloist nearly ten years his senior); first prize at the Kazan International Ballet Competition; and the President's Prize at the Prix de Lausanne where, at 15, he was the minimum age for participation. At the St. Petersburg competition, Muntagirov also received the title "Hope of Russia" from the competition jury chaired by Natalya Makarova, one of the greatest dancers in history. Smirnov's awards included the grand prize of the Il Piccolo Violino Magico competition in Venice, which he won last week at this invitation-only event for the world's 15 most gifted young violinists; as well as first prize at the David Oistrakh international violin competition in Moscow; and Apogee's Rising Star Award for the top performer at the Crescendo Festival in St. Petersburg where, at 12, Smirnov became the youngest person ever to receive this level of professional recognition. Based on his performances at the Venice competition, Smirnov also was awarded the special jury prize including the use of a Giuseppe Gagliano (1782) violin throughout the ensuing year of his training.

The success of these Apogee World Scholars serves to demonstrates the Foundation's ability to identify elite talents in each sphere of the performing arts from the earliest years of their training and to fulfill their potential throughout the course of their career cycles. Apogee World Scholarships are the Foundation's most pretigious level of student award, provided to those who have attained indisputably world class stature capable of propelling them to historically significant levels of achievement in their fields. World Scholars are provided with a full spectrum of career support by Apogee Management designed to insure that they achieve their fullest potential on the world stage. These benefits also enable World Scholars to train wherever in the world is deemed most suitable for their ongoing development and, as part of his scholarship, Muntagirov this week began a year of training at the Royal Ballet School in London under the Foundation's supervision.

Muntagirov has been a student at the Perm State Ballet School for the last six years, where he was trained by two Apogee Achievement Award laureates: Sergey Chernayev and Yuri Sidorov. Apogee was able to identify Vadim as a person of extraordinary ability during his very first year of training there, at the age of nine, and has provided him with Apogee Merit Scholarships every year since to support his ongoing development. In 2005, Vadim was named the first Apogee World Scholar from central Russia. His election to study at the Royal Ballet School also furthers the Foundation's mission of bringing together the best of East and West: in this case honoring and uniting in and through this exceptionally talented individual two historic ballet traditions, the Perm and London Schools.

Violin prodigy Dmitrij Smirnov studies at the Rimsky-Korsakov State Music School in St. Petersburg, which is the leading institution in the region for the training of gifted young musicians. He was identified by Apogee as an artist of extraordinary ability during his performances at the 2006 Crescendo Festival, where he was selected by Apogee's award jury as the outstanding performer of the event. This selection entitled him to receive both an Apogee Merit Scholarship to support his continuing studies as well as a special edition of Apogee's Rising Star Award. When Smirnov was further named an Apogee World Scholar at the beginning of this academic year, he became the youngest person ever to receive this highest level of student recognition.

Apogee has announced that Smirnov will perform with as many as a dozen other Apogee award laureates and as many as thirty other elite young musicians at the upcoming Apogee Music Festival to be held in Odessa 25-28 September of this year.

For more information on Apogee's Music Festival in Odessa.org/programs/productions/odessa.php

Apogee World Scholar Vadim Muntagirov said: "I am very grateful to The Apogee Foundation for its support from the very beginning of my training. I wish that all young artists could have the opportunities to fulfill their dreams in the way that being a part of the Apogee family has allowed me to fulfill mine."

Apogee President Kenneth Schneider said: "We are thrilled to have been able to play a part in the careers of these incredibly talented artists, and eagerly look forward to the magnificent accomplishments which still lie ahead for them and for everyone around the world who will have the opportunity to be inspired by their special gifts."

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About The Apogee Foundation
The Apogee Foundation began activities in Russia in 1997 and was incorporated in the United States in 2004 as a New York based not-for-profit corporation. Apogee is dedicated to the development of human excellence in the performing arts. It supports cultural institutions and individual artists, providing administrative, promotional, and financial support to help talented individuals achieve their full potential, and enabling this potential to be showcased to the world.