Victor Kissine was born in March 15,1953 in Saint Petersburg (when it was still called Leningrad). He graduated from Saint-Petersburg Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory, where he studied with professor M. Druskin. In 1981, he received a PhD in musicology from the same conservatory.

In 1990 Kissine settled with his family in Belgium.

Kissine’s catalogue includes works for symphony orchestra and concertos, chamber music for soloists and ensembles, vocal and choral works, two operas and ballets, as well as numerous film scores. 

Between 1998 and 2002 Kissine was composer-in-residence of the Belgian ensemble Musiques  Nouvelles. In 2002 this ensemble and the pianist Boyan Vodenitcharov recorded his Chamber Music CD.

Since 2001 Victor Kissine frequently collaborates with Gidon Kremer and  the orchestra Kremerata Baltica. Gidon Kremer created his Violin concerto Barcarola (2007) and the Concerto for Violin and Orchestra (2012), chamber compositions and transcriptions.

Kissine’s first Violin concerto, After-sight was created, in two different versions, by the New World Symphony (2005) and the San Francisco Symphony (2007), with Alexander Barantschik as soloist.

An orchestral piece, Post-scriptum, was commissioned by the San Francisco Symphony, premiered under the direction of Michael Tilson Thomas in March 2010 at the Davies Hall, SF, and performed during the national 2010 tour (including Carnegie Hall and Washington Kennedy Center).

Several of Kissine’s pieces were written for the pianist Vladimir Feltsman, such as the Piano Quartet Still Life (2003) commissioned by the Chamber Society of Lincoln Center.

Kissine works have been premiered by Berlin Komische Oper (conducted by Mirga Grazinyte-Tila), State Orchestra Svetlanov (conducted by Vladimir Jurowski), Stuttgart Staatsorchester (conducted by Sylvain Cambreling), National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine (conducted by Roman Kofman) St-Petersbourg Philharmonic Orchestra (Vladimir Feltsman),  Dusseldorf Philharmonic Orchestra, RAI National Symphony Orchestra, Jena Philharmonic Orchestra and the National Orchestra of Belgium (conducted by Andrey Boreyko). Other perfermances took place all around the Europe including the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Philharmonies of Berlin, Munich, Köln, Hamburg, Prague, Zürich, Paris, Milan and the festivals of Salzburg, Lockenhaus (where he was composer-in-residence in 2004 and 2011), Ars Musica (Belgium), Musica (France), La Jolla, Music Mountain (US), and ISCM World Days. The Queen Elisabeth International Music Competition commissioned him the compulsory work for 2012 violin competition.

His discography includes three disks at ECM, among which the monographic Between two waves (2013), recorded by Gidon Kremer and the Kremerata Baltica. In 2011, the recording of his second Piano Trio, Zerkalo (Mirror) received the Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik.

Victor Kissine was awarded the Tokyo Irino Prize Foundation in 1995 and the  Académie de Lutèce prize in 1993. In 2008 he was elected member of the Royal Academy of Belgium.

Kissine’s works are edited by Belaieff-Schott.

Kissine is a professor of music analysis and orchestration at the Royal Conservatory of Mons, and at the INSAS (a graduate school in Brussels for film, theatre, and broadcasting arts).