with my rifle in my violin and bow. This tradition is from my predecessors. Isaac Stern used to do the same." In 2006, Vengerov founded a music school in the north of Israel, Musicians of Tomorrow, run by a former first violinist of the Israel Philharmonic. He has a home in Migdal, Israel, near Lake Kinneret. He has also played in a number of events commemorating the Holocaust. In 1997, Vengerov became the first classical musician to be appointed an International Goodwill Ambassador by UNICEF, 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 later took a two-year course in Baroque violin performance practice and repertoire. In 2005, he injured his right shoulder in a weightlifting accident, and while he recovered, he developed his interest and skill in conducting. He had surgery on the shoulder and a year of rehabilitation. In 2010, Vengerov was appointed the first chief conductor of the Menuhin Festival Gstaad Orchestra. 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. Vengerov then enrolled in a further two-year program of opera conducting. His work with contemporary composers includes premiering Qigang Chen's violin concerto La Joie de la souffrance. During 2019–20, Vengerov was artist-in-residence with the Armenian State Symphony Orchestra. He is Ambassador and Visiting Professor at the Menuhin Music Academy in Switzerland (IMMA) and Polonsky Visiting Professor of Violin at the Royal College of Music, London. Aside from teaching, Vengerov has also served on numerous competition juries, including the Donatella Flick Conducting Competition, the Yehudi Menuhin International Competition for Young Violinists, and also as chair of the Henryk Wieniawski Violin Competition in 2011 and 2016. In 2013, he conducted the finals of the Montreal International Violin Competition. Awards and honours Awards 1984: winner of the International Karol Lipiński and Henryk Wieniawski Young Violin Player Competition 1990: winner of the International Carl Flesch Competition, London 1994, 1995: two Gramophone Classical Music Awards 1995, 1996, 1998, 2003, 2004: five Edison Classical Music Awards 1997, 2003: two Echo Music Prizes 2003: Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist(s) Performance (with orchestra) 2004: Classic Brit Award 2007: World Economic Forum Crystal Award ("annual award for leading artists whose leadership has inspired