di Verona winter season and performed Mendelssohn Elijah Oratorio, as a highlight of his season. His guest conducting appearances included orchestras like Concertgebouw Orchestra, La Scala, London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Stuttgart Radio Orchestra, La Fenice, Detroit Symphony and Teatro Colón. Teaching career Mintz gives master classes worldwide, including Crans-Montana Classics, Switzerland, since summer 2012, where he is the Artistic Director. He was one of the founders of the Keshet Eilon International Violin Mastercourse in Israel, an advanced-level summer program for young talented violinists from all around the world in Kibbutz Eilon, Israel, and served as a patron there for eighteen years (1992-2010). Personal Life Mintz is married to Corina, who grew up in Italy and Germany, and worked as an interpreter specializing in art. They have two sons, Eliav and Alexander. Shlomo owned a villa in Italy and a castle in Germany but he primarily raised his family in an unpretentious, contemporary ranch in Sands Point, New York. With over 150 concerts a year, Mintz regrets not having enough time to spend with this children due to his hectic performance schedule and wished he could have spent more time “shooting nintendo with Eliav”. His children are also musically inclined, and Eliav picked up piano and viola at a young age. Although Shlomo was not around often, his wife says “it’s very special when daddy’s home”. Additional activities Mintz was a co-founder of the "Violins of Hope" project together with violinmaker Amnon Weinstein. Forty-five violins once owned by players who lost their lives in ghettos and concentration camps during World War II were restored by Weinstein and have been displayed internationally. The Violins of Hope were presented in a special event in Jerusalem for the sixtieth-anniversary celebration of the State of Israel. Mintz has served as a jury member of international competitions, including the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow (1993) and the Queen Elisabeth International Music Competition in Brussels (1993 and 2001). He was also invited to be jury president of the International Henryk Wieniawski Competition (October 2001) for the Violin in Poznań, Poland. From 2002 to 2011, he was jury president of the Sion Valais-International Violin Competition in Switzerland. He is a mentor and jury president of the International Violin Competition in Buenos Aires, president of the Ilona Fehér Budapest Violin Competition, the Munetsugu Angel Violin Competition Japan and HKIVS Shlomo Mintz Beijing International Violin Competition. Awards