Marat Bisengaliev was born in Alma-Ata in Kazakhstan in 1962 and began to learn the violin at the age of six, graduating from the Alma-Ata Conservatory in 1984 with a first prize. He went on to study at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow with Boris Belinky and Valerie Klimov. Having made his concerto début at the age of nine in Alma-Ata, Bisengaliev continued to perform as a soloist throughout Eastern Europe and also served as Artistic Director of the Kazakhstan Chamber Orchestra, before settling in 1989 in England.
In 1991 Bisengaliev won first prize in the international Nicanor Zabaleta Competition, also receiving the special virtuoso prize for the most outstanding performance of the competition. Earlier he was a prize-winner in 1988 at the Leipzig International Bach Competition.
He made his concerto début in England playing the Beethoven concerto with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, followed by a London performance of the Tchaikovsky concerto. He has appeared as a soloist with major orchestras in Russia, England, Germany, Poland and the former Republic of Czechoslovakia. His recordings include concertos issued by Melodiya, Naxos and Marco Polo, and he has been three times the subject of a Central Soviet Television documentary.
