Maxim Alexandrovich Vengerov[a] (Russian: Максим Александрович Венгеров; born 20 August 1974) is a Soviet-born Israeli violinist, violist, and conductor.

[3] Vengerov was born in Novosibirsk, the only child of Aleksandr and Larisa Borisovna, an oboist and orphanage children's choir director, respectively.

He began his musical journey early, singing in his mother's choir at the age of three and starting violin lessons at five with Galina Turchaninova.

At age 10, Vengerov won the 1984 International Karol Lipiński and Henryk Wieniawski Young Violin Player Competition, marking the start of his career.

He subsequently studied with Zakhar Bron, following him from the Soviet Union to the Royal Academy of Music in London and then to the Musikhochschule Lübeck in Germany.

He has received numerous awards, including a Grammy and multiple Echo Music Prizes, and plays on the 1727 "ex-Kreutzer" Stradivarius violin.

Vengerov was born in Novosibirsk, the only child of Aleksandr and Larisa Borisovna, oboist and orphanage children's choir director respectively, and is Jewish.

"[7][8] At age 10, Vengerov won the 1984 International Karol Lipiński and Henryk Wieniawski Young Violin Player Competition in Lublin, Poland.

[4] For the next five years, Vengerov studied with Zakhar Bron, who in 1987 left the Soviet Union to teach at the Royal Academy of Music in London.

[4] In 1997, Vengerov became the first classical musician to be appointed an International Goodwill Ambassador by UNICEF,[16] performing for children in Uganda, Thailand, and Kosovo.

Playing by Heart, an American television production on NBC about Vengerov's meetings with young musicians during his master classes, screened at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival.

He continued his conducting studies with Yuri Simonov, and graduated with a diploma of excellence from the Ippolitov-Ivanov State Musical Pedagogical Institute in 2014.