Alexander Vynograd Contributor

Born in Kharkov, Ukraine, Alexander Vynograd began his musical education at the Kharkov Music School, where he studied piano for nine years. His focus shifted to the guitar in 1983 and he began studying with the prominent Ukrainian guitarist, I.M. Balan. In 1985 he moved to Moscow and matriculated at the Gnessin Music College. Vynograd was First Prizewinner at the Gnessin College Competition, the Russian Folk Instrument Competition, and the USSR Music Festival.

At some point he became aware that the range of the traditional 6-string guitar made it impossible to play transcriptions of many classical works. And so, in 1990, Vynograd invented an 8-string guitar to increase the instrument's range through the addition of both a higher and a lower string, and developed a new technique (the chin technique) to help play the new instrument. From this point on, he performed solo concerts exclusively on this guitar, and composed several few pieces to highlight the new instrument's capabilities.

From 1990-98, Vynograd was First Guitar of the Kharkov Philharmonic's Guitar Quartet. He also performed monthly solo concerts at the Central Concert Hall in Kharkov, and appeared on numerous television and radio programs and recordings in that city. His concert tours have included Poland, the Czech Republic and Germany. Alexander Vynograd has lived in Munich since 1998.