Vladimir Davidovich Ashkenazy (sometimes transliterated Ashkenazi) (born July 6, 1937 in Gorky, USSR, now Nizhny Novgorod, Russia) is a conductor and pianist. He has been an Icelandic citizen since 1972.

Born in the former USSR to an Ashkenazi Jewish father and a Russian Orthodox mother, Ashkenazy began his studies at the age of six and, showing prodigious talent, was accepted at the Central Music School at eight. A graduate of the Moscow Conservatory, he won second prize in the prestigious International Frederick Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw in 1955 and shared first prize in the 1962 International Tchaikovsky Competition.

Vladimir Ashkenazy is renowned for his performances of Romantic and Russian composers. He has recorded the complete 24 Preludes and Fugues of Shostakovich, Scriabin's sonatas, Chopin and Schumann's entire works for piano, Beethoven's piano sonatas, as well as the piano concertos of Mozart, Beethoven, Bartók, Prokofiev, and Rachmaninoff. He has also performed and recorded chamber music. He continues to record and perform internationally.

Midway through his pianistic career, Ashkenazy branched into conducting. He has particularly been praised for his recordings of orchestral works by Sibelius, Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev, Shostakovich, and Scriabin.

He was the principal conductor of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra from 1987 to 1994, and was principal conductor of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra from 1998 to 2003. He became musical director of the NHK Symphony Orchestra in 2004.

Besides these positions, Ashkenazy is Conductor Laureate of the Philharmonia Orchestra, Conductor Laureate of the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra, and Music Director of the European Union Youth Orchestra, with which he performs regularly.

Ashkenazy has also appeared in several Christopher Nupen music films, conducting extracts from the composer profiled, including Respighi and Tchaikovsky and performing at the piano.