Professor Vadim Mazo was born in Minsk (Belarus), graduated from Vitebsk Music College and the Belarusian State Conservatory. From 1968 to 1980 he was a soloist with the Belarusian State Philharmonic and performed with Minsk Chamber Orchestra and Belarusian State Symphony Orchestra.

In 1980 he moved to the United States. He worked in the State of Wisconsin at Milwaukee Conservatory, the University of Green Bay and other Midwestern universities in the United States. In 1983, he founded the Milwaukee String Players Chamber Orchestra. From 1987 to 2020 he was working as the professor at Illinois Wesleyan University. During this time, he was also a music director of symphony and chamber orchestras, conducting and performing as a violinist and violist. Professor Mazo was giving master classes in America, Asia and Europe, including France, Germany, England, Russia, China, Japan, Thailand, the Czech Republic, the Philippines, Greece, Italy, Belarus and other countries.

As an example of international cooperation, in 1993 he founded the international festival of musical arts “Ameropa” in Prague (Czech Republic, www.ameropa.org); participated in various international festivals as a performer, organizer and conductor. He performed at the Weill Recital Hall (one of the halls in Carnegie Hall) in New York with the program “Dedication to Shostakovich” (1992).

In the spring of 1999, Vadim Mazo conducted the Suk Chamber Orchestra at the Prague Spring International festival. Both as the founder of the project and composer “Homage to Abstractionism: Schoenberg and Kandinsky” (2010 – 2011), he participated in festivals in Brno, Munich, Vienna, Prague. He performed with the programme “Musical Bridges of Cultures” (2015) in the Central Conservatory in Beijing (China), where world premieres of musical pieces were performed jointly by European and Chinese musical instruments and international participants.

Facts about Vadim Mazo:

• is currently the Professor Emeritus of Music (Illinois Wesleyan University, USA)
• was visiting Professor at the Central Conservatory of music in Chengdu (Sichuan, China).
• is Head of International Council of Unovis Forum (Vitebsk, Belarus)
• is the Artistic Director and Founder of the International Festival of Musical Arts “Ameropa” (Prague, Czech Republic)
• is the Artistic Director of the International Festival “Musical Bridges” in Saint Petersburg (Russia)

Professor V. Mazo is currently based in China, but is actively involved in the cultural life of various countries, especially his native Belarus, where he spent the last six months. His projects are aimed at cultural education, familiarizing people with the world’s cultural heritage, which can heal the soul and fill it with spiritual content. Engaged in music education, he is a permanent Chairman and member of the jury of international and regional competitions; he continues to share experience with young musicians, and is engaged in the development of creative talent in the gifted youth. He actively gives master classes in a number of countries, including online.