As a little student
It was all by accident that he chose the instrument at the age of five, as he applied to the accordion class of the music school. But, fortunately, he was advised to enter the violin class instead. His first teacher, Natalia Gatiatulina, created his love for the violin and made him want to practice. Soon after working with him, she recommended that he should study with Zakhar Bron. Thus he began to study under the eminent pedagogue Bron at the music school for children attached to Novosibirsk State Conservatory.
Bron recalled Vadim's early years with him. Vadim was distinguished for his striking faculty of adaptation to the instrument. He was mature far beyond his years, his playing was one hundred per cent secure and his capacity for work was incredible. Bron had never encountered a 6 or 8-year-old boy who would practie for 5-6 hours as eagerly and zealously as Repin did. And in a professional sense he was developing very harmoniously.

By the time he was seven he knew that he wanted to dedicate himself to music.

Here's an episode told by Zakhar Bron. Vadim was in the second grade, that is, he was eight years old, when Olga Parhomenko, professor of violin, a wonderful and renowned musician, came to Novosibirsk. Bron suggested that she should audition his pupils, but she flatly refused saying that in her lifetime she had heard too many "children of prodigy" and was fed up with them. One day when she did not feel quite well and was lying down in her hotel room, he came to visit her and brought her Vadim Repin's tape. She listened to the tape and said: "I don't believe it. It is an adult violinist playing."

The next day she auditioned Vadim. He played for her the Ballad and Polonaise of Vieuxtemps, a Paganini Caprice, a piece by Debussy and something else. When the audition was over she turned to Bron and said:

"I don't believe it all the same".

International competitions
At the age of 11, he took part in the International Wieniawski Youth Competition in Lublin, Poland, and won the gold medal for both age groups(5-16, 16-18). After the final judgment of the jury it turned out that apart from the principal award of the competition he won a lot of additional prizes. The President of the Jury when making that announcement said:
"You see, you've robbed the whole of Poland!"

Later Vadim confessed that he could hardly wait till the end of the ceremony to start immediately for the toy shop! In 1988 he won his first adult competition: the Tibor Varga Competition in Sion, Switzerland. A year later, in 1989, came the first prize and gold medal of the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels. Since then he has established himself as one of the leading classical artists of his generation, giving concerts all over the world.

Concerts
Shotly after he won Wieniawski Junior Competition, he was chosen, along with Maxim Vengerov and pianist Yevgeny Kissin, to give the Inaugural Recital at the 1986 Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow (in album Me-VDC 1170), which amazed the audience and the critics from all over the world.
His first appearance in the Far East was in Japan, 1987, when he was 15 years old. Bron and composer Khrennikov had accompanied him. He played the Tchaikovsky and Khrennikov Concertos with Japanese orchestras and gave a recital in Tokyo, playing Prokofiev's second sonata, Ysaye's Ballade, Wieniawski's Faust Fantasy, Ravel's Tzigane, and small pieces of Kreisler.
(Interview (Russian) Interview (English) Interview (Japanese))
Immediately after he won the 1989 Queen Elisabeth Competition, he took his second tour to Japan with eighteen concerts. The final recital in Casals Hall, Tokyo, was recorded and released in Japan (PCCL 0006), which included his excellent performance of Schubert's Sonata in A. Vadim Repin made his United Kingdom debut in 1987 at the Lichfield Festival with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and returned to London in February 1989, giving critically acclaimed performances of Brahms' Sonata in D minor, Pagaini's Caprice No. 24 and Ysaye's Ballade. Since then he has performed in recital at Vienna's Schoenbrunn Palace, La Scala Milano, as well as in such cities as St. Petersburg, Paris, London, Frankfurt and Salzburg. He has appeared at such European Festivals as the Salzburg Festival and in the Wiener Musik Sommer. He has performed with such orchestras as the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, the Radio Symphony Orchestra Berlin, the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Residentie Orchestra (The Hague), the Cologne Rundfunk Orchestra, Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, as well as the London Philharmonic Orchestra on tour in Germany, conducted by Charles Dutoit. Vadim Repin was introduced to the American audiences with a performance at Carnegie Hall for the benefit of the Armenian earthquake victims. He performed as soloist in Germany and throughout the United States with the State Symphony of Russia (formerly the U.S.S.R. State Symphony) conducted by Yevgeny Svetlanov. This six-week tour included performances in Frankfurt, Germany at the Alte Oper (which was televised throughout Europe), Miami, San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York at Avery Fisher Hall. He returned to the United States, making his North American recital debut in Chicago's Ravinia Festival and in orchestral appearances with the Atlanta Symphony (Yoel Levi), the Minnesota Orchestra (Edo de Waart), the San Francisco Symphony (Valery Gergiev), as well as appearing as soloist on tour with the Kirov Orchestra of St. Petersburg conducted by Maestro Gergiev.

Recent years
In the 1993-94 season Repin was the featured soloist on the North American tour of the Minnesota Orchestra (Edo de Waart), performing in Boston and New York's Carnegie Hall. In the Summer of 1994 he performed with the Montreal Symphony(Charles Dutoit), and with the Chicago Symphony at the Ravinia Festival(Semyon Bychkov). His 1994-95 season included appearances with the Orchestra de la Suisse Romande, a return to Japan with the St.Petersburg Philharmonic under Temirkanov and Janssons, and the Concertgebouw Orchestra under Riccardo Chailly, debut performances with the Toronto Symphony and Jukke Pekka Saraste, the Detroit Symphony with James DePriest, and a return engagement with the San Francisco Symphony, the Tonhalle Zurich, a recital in La Scala Milano, and debut summer festival performances at the Hollywood Bowl with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and in Houston Symphony. During the 1995-96 season, he was the featured soloist in the opening concerts of the Los Angeles Philharmonic's season as well as their Gala Benefit under the direction of Esa Pekka Salonen and will return during this same season to the Los Angeles Philharmonic for performances with Pierre Boulez. In addition, he perform in recital in Toronto and was the featured soloist with the Moscow Radio Orchestra, Vladimir Fedoseyev conducting at Avery Fischer Hall in New York.

Recordings
In 1985, when he was 14 years old, his first recording was done in Moscow (Me-VDC 1169). And eight more CD albums were released before his western recording debut. Vadim Repin's first recordings in the West are the Tchaikovsky and Sibelius concerti with the London Symphony Orchestra under Emmanuel Krivine, and the Shostakovich Violin Concerto No.1 and Prokofiev Violin Concerto No.2 with Kent Nagano and the Hallé Orchestra, followed by Prokofiev Sonatas and Ravel and Medtner Sonatas with Boris Berezovsky. They have been released on Erato/Warner Classics.