Violin

Boris Kuschnir was born into a music family in Kiev in 1948. He studied violin with Boris Belenky at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatoire and chamber music with Valentin Berlinsky of the Borodin Quartet.

His many encounters with Dmitri Shostakovich (working on his last quartets) and David Oistrakh, with whom he also studied, had a lasting influence on his artistic development. His career started 1969 when he was one of the three winners of the Allunions-Competition in Leningrad where, in the final, he performed the Beethoven Violin Concerto with the Leningrad Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Yuri Temirkanov.

He has won numerous prizes at international violin and chamber music competitions (Paris, Belgrade, Sion, Trapani, Bratislava, Florence, Trieste, Gorizia, Hamburg, Vercelli). In 1970 he founded the Moscow String Quartet and remained a member until 1979.

Since 1981 he has been living in Austria. He became an Austrian citizen in 1982 and was the first concertmaster of the Bruckner Orchestra in Linz until 1983. In 1984, he became a Professor at the Music and Arts University of the City of Vienna and also a distinguished Professor at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz in 1999. 

Davide Alogna is an eclectic musician with an international education. He graduated both in violin and in piano with honours at Conservatorio ‘G. Verdi’ in Como, and he obtained his master’s diploma in soloist violin and chamber music at the Conservatoire de Paris with a ‘Premier Prix a l’unanimité’. He also studied composition and graduated with a special mention at Accademia Chigiana of Siena with Giuliano Carmignola, who described him as ‘an amazing talent’. 

In 2017, Davide was invited as guest soloist by La Scala Orchestra to play concerts around Europe, and on 29 October he debuted at the Teatro alla Scala of Milan accompanied by La Scala Chamber Orchestra. 

Davide has already performed in many important music halls such as Carnegie Hall (Stern Hall), Teatro alla Scala, Berliner Philarmonie, Suntory Hall of Tokyo, Smetana Hall of Prague, Grand Theatre of Shanghai, Salle Cortot of Paris, Gasteig and Herkulessaal in Germany, Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City, Mahidol Hall of Bangkok, Cairo Opera House and the Verdi Auditorium of Milan. 

Zakhar Bron is a virtuoso violinist, who is famous above all for his teaching method. His whole life is dedicated to the training of the next generation of concert violinists. His reputation as an outstanding violin teacher became established when his students Vadim Repin, Maxim Vengerov and Daniel Hope became famous around the world.

Zakhar Bron started his violin studies at the Stolyarsky School in Odessa, then continued at the Gnessin Music College in Moscow with Boris Goldstein and at Moscow Conservatory with Igor Oistrakh, for whom Zakhar Bron also worked as an assistant. Upon completion of his studies Zakhar Bron performed as a soloist and started teaching. From 1974 until 1988 he worked at the Novosibirsk Conservatory. In 1988 Zakhar Bron moved to Germany and since then has been teaching in various musical institutions across Europe, including the Zurich University of the Arts. 

Apart from teaching Zakhar Bron appears frequently as a soloist and has recorded and released many CDs and DVDs. For his outstanding work Zakhar Bron has been awarded the highest honors in Russia, Germany and Spain: in 1998 he received the Verdienstkreuz am Bande der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, in 2001 became a People's Artist of Russia, and in 2006 received La Orden Civil de Alfonso X el Sabio in Spain.

Carmine Lauri started playing the violin at the age of four and further his studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London with Maurice Hasson.

Lauri has performed extensively worldwide including performances in the presence of various Heads of State. He is the Co-Leader (and leader) of the London Symphony Orchestra for the past 19 years, the Concertmaster of the Oxford Philharmonic and Guest Leader of the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra. He has also guest lead and guest leads various orchestras including the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, the London Philharmonic, the Rotterdam Philharmonic, the City of Birmingham Symphony and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestras, Manchester Camerata and the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra under distinguished conductors such as Lorin Maazel, Bernard Haitink, Sir Colin Davis, Sir Simon Rattle, Sir Antonio Pappano, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Riccardo Chailly, Gianandrea Noseda, Yuri Temirkanov, Valery Gergiev and many others.

Carmine regularly leads the LSO in concerts and has lead the orchestra in numerous recordings including also music scores of movies such as  Star Wars, Harry Potter, The Queen, The King’s Speech, The Danish Girl, Suffragette, Shape of Water (just to name a few)  and is often the featured violin soloist in many films such as ‘As you like it’ and ‘Joyeux Nöel’.

British violinist Daniel Hope has enjoyed a thriving international solo career for more than 30 years. Celebrated for his musical versatility and dedication to humanitarian causes, he has been recognized with a string of honors including the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany and the 2015 European Culture Prize for Music. Besides undertaking solo recitals, chamber concerts and concerto collaborations with the world’s leading orchestras and conductors, Hope directs many ensembles from the violin, succeeding Roger Norrington as Music Director of the Zurich Chamber Orchestra in 2016 and becoming Music Director of San Francisco’s New Century Chamber Orchestra two years later. An exclusive Deutsche Grammophon artist since 2007 with an award-winning discography, he is also a popular radio and television host who may currently be seen in Hope@Home on Tour. In 2019 he completed his 16th and final season as Associate Artistic Director of Georgia’s Savannah Music Festival as well as becoming Artistic Director of Dresden’s Frauenkirche Cathedral. Since 2020, and, following in the distinguished footsteps of Kurt Masur and Joseph Joachim, Hope launched his tenure as President of the Beethovenhaus Bonn.

Hope first drew notice as the youngest member of the Beaux Arts Trio, giving more than 400 performances with the esteemed ensemble during its final six seasons. Today he is a familiar face at the most prestigious international venues and festivals, from New York’s Carnegie Hall to Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, and from Aspen and Tanglewood to Salzburg, Schleswig-Holstein and London’s BBC Proms.  

Emmanuele Baldini was born in Trieste, Italy, into a musical family.

After studies in his hometown with Bruno Polli, he furthered his violin training in Geneva, Salzburg and Berlin, most recently studying conducting with Isaac Karabtchevsky and Frank Shipway.

From an early age, Baldini garnered prizes from countless international competitions, and has performed as a soloist or recitalist across the globe.

Following a highly successful career as a violinist, Baldini has embarked on new musical ventures as a conductor. He founded the Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo (OSESP) Quartet, and has collaborated with internationally renowned artists such as Maria João Pires, Antonio Meneses, Emmanuel Pahud, Antoine Tamestit, Jean-Philippe Collard and Jean-Efflam Bavouzet among others.

Baldini has been concertmaster of the Orchestra del Teatro Comunale di Bologna, the Orchestra del Teatro "G. Verdi" di Trieste, collaborating also with the Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala di Milano and with the Orquestra Sinfônica da Galícia.
Since 2005 has been concertmaster of the OSESP. His conducting highlights include concerts at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, at Sala São Paulo (Osesp) and the Teatro del Sodre in Montevideo.

Marc Danel (France) was born in France and grew up in Lille, where he learned violin with his sister and with Jezdimir Vujicic. He went then to study in Cologne by Prof Igor Ozim, where he finished brilliantly his study in 1992.

In 1991, he founded the Danel Quartet, with whom he had been studying extensively with the Amadeus and Borodin Quartets, as well as with Pierre Penassou, Hugh Maguire, Walter Levin and Fiodor Druzhinin.

As leader of the quartet, he was major prizewinner of all the six competitions where he took part, from 1991 to 1995, including Evian, London, St Petersburg.

Since 1991, he did more than 2800 concerts with the quartet, playing in many of the major halls in Europe, USA, Russia, China, Japan, Taiwan, South America, Central Asia. He has been recording more than 30 CDs, who have been rewarded many awards in Europe and the US.

He has been performing many times all over the world the complete cycle of quartets by Shostakovitch, Beethoven, Weinberg or Bartok.

He is also regularly performing as a soloist or with various chamber music partners.

With his quartet, he participated widely in the rediscovery of the great soviet composer Mechtislav Weinberg, playing his quartets extensively since the 90s and having done the still only complete recording of his 17 string quartets, which ended in 2009. In 2019, for the centenary of the composer, he has been performing 7 times (Manchester, Paris, Washington, Hamburg, Taipei, Amsterdam and London) the complete cycle of quartets, from which he has done the first performance of some of them.

Born in Istanbul. Hakan Şensoy started his violin training under the supervision of Prof. Ayhan Turan, in "Fast Training Special Violin Unit". Since the first recital he gave in 1984, he has participated in many orchestra concerts as soloist and conductor at the prestigious concert halls (New York Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center – Paris Louvre Auditorium, Milan Sala Verdi) in Italy, Albania, Switzerland, United Kingdom, France, Bulgaria, the United States, Australia, Romania, China, Japan, Finland, Greece, Latvia, Poland, Azerbaijan, Estonia, Netherlands, Singapore, Sweden, England, Croatia, Macedonia, Kosovo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Germany, Russia, Venezuela, Mexico, Czech Republic, Northern Cyprus and Turkey, and has given recitals.

In 1985, he was awarded the "Most Successful Young Artist of the Year" by the Istanbul Philharmonic Society and received the "Outstanding Achievement in Art" award from the hands of ITU Rector in the same year.

In September 1988, the recital gave in Istanbul AKM was taken by UNESCO to the scope of Global Education campaign, and in this concert, UNESCO from many countries were present. In the same year, he began his education at the Royal College of Music in London to pursue his post graduate studies. He graduated from Trevor Williams' class here.

Born in Palermo, is graduated with Honors in Viola and Honorable Mention in Chamber Music at the Conservatorium “Santa Cecilia” in Roma respectly with M° Massimo Paris and the M° Roberto Galletto.

He start his studies with M° Renato D’Anna in the Conservatorium of his city and graduated in the Conservatorium “G.B. Martini” of Bologna with M° Antonello Farulli.

In addition he've studied with the M° Carlo Pozzi, Piero Farulli, Riccardo Brengola, Giuseppe Prencipe and more at various Musical Institutions such as the Accademia Chigiana in Siena, International Academy of Santa Cecilia in Rome, International Academy of “Filarmonica della Scala” in Milan and other.

He obtained the “Bachelor” in Viola Classic at the Maastricht Royal Conservatoire with M° Michael Kugel of whom he will be his assistant at a series of masterclasses in Italy.

He obtained the Superior Graduate in Viola and Chamber Music at the Santa Cecilia International Academy in Rome with M° Massimo Paris and M° Carlo Fabiano.

In the 1997 he won the “Award of Merit” in Academy Chigiana of Siena and in 2003 won second prize at the International Music Competition "Johannes Brahms" in Acqui Terme (AL) in the category "String Soloists" and the “Most Distinguished Award” in International Music Competition “Ibla Grand Prize” 2015.

He was born in 1976 in Assisi (Pg).

In 1995 he obtained a diploma in violin with the maximum mark (and a special note of merit) under the direction of Patrizio Scarponi from “F. Morlacchi” Conservatory of Perugia.

He then specialized in Rome with Antonio Salvatore and in Siena with Uto Ughi at The Chigiana Music Academy, where he won a scholarship. He attended a three year course of Concertmaster held by Master Giulio Franzetti at Fiesole School Of Music where he won a scholarship in 2001. As the founder member of the “Quintetto Scarponi” he has participated in the most important Italian concert seasons (Amici della Musica di Perugia, Amici della Musica di Pistoia, Società del Quartetto di Vicenza, il Coretto di Bari, Estate del Ceresio di Lugano) and has recorded with various recording studios (Nuovo Era, Ricordi, Bongiovanni). He has performed on radio (RAI, RSI) and played for important premiers.

He has played in numerous orchestras obtaining great success as a soloist in performing J.S. Bach, W.A. Mozart, M.Brunch,F. Mendelssohn and V. Bucchi. He collaborated as violin soloist with the following orchestras ,“Camerata del Titano”of the Republic of San Marino, the “Accademia Strumentale Umbra” orchestra of Perugia and with “I Filarmonici del Teatro Comunale di Bologna”.

After graduating from Prof. Ayhan Turan’s class with honors degree, Cihat Askin completed his Master’s and Doctoral degrees in London at the Royal College of Music with Prof. Rodney Friend and at City University with Prof. Yfrah Neaman.
Upon his arrival to Turkey, he was appointed as Associate Professor in 1998 and Professor in 2006, at ITU.

Under the same roof, he carried on his academic and artistic activities from 1998 to 2012, as the founder and co-chair of MIAM (Advanced Research Music Center).

Askin served as the Director of Turkish Music State Conservatory of ITU in between 2008-2012.

Being a prominent figure in Turkey, he has been giving concerts across Europe, Asia, Africa, South America and the USA.
He participated as a jury member in international violin competition in Bulgaria, Serbia, Poland, Israel, Hungary, Switzerland, Russia and Argentina.

Askin made the first CD recordings of Turkish composers U. C. Erkin and N. K. Akses for Kalan Muzik.

Being a noted champion and broadcaster of modern Turkish music, he made albums of his own compositions. In 2006, the first integral recording of Kreutzer 42 Etudes was released and highly acclaimed by the critics.

With solo performances in greatest concert halls of the world including the Berlin and  Munich Philharmonic; the Kennedy Center, Washington; Avery Fisher Hall, New York;  Tonhalle, Zurich; Goldenen Saal, Vienna or the Scala, Milan; working with directors  like Sergiu Celibidache, Charles Dutoit, Lorin Maazel, Zubin Mehta, Yehudi Menuhin,  Jun Märkl, Andris Nelsons and Marcello Viotti, Ingolf Turban commands a repertoire  of works, some of which have rarely been performed on stage.  

His virtuosic skill for Niccolò Paganinis works gained critical acclaim for his March  2006 performance with the New York Philharmonic, additionally his complete  recording of the six violin concertos (Telos Records) and in the TV documentary  „Paganinis Geheimnis“ (merkur.tv 2006).  

His extensive repertoire in all branches has produced over 40 albums. His much  celebrated premiere performances have gained world wide acclaim and are now  recognized as standard concert works.  

In 2005 he founded the Chamber Orchestra „I Virtuosi di Paganini“. In the 11 previous  years, he was professor at the University of Music and Performing Arts, Stuttgart,  Germany, then was called to the University for Music and Theater in Munich,  Germany.  

Ingolf Turban lives with his family in Munich.  

"Boriso-Glebsky is an astounding instrumentalist, with a prodigious technical armoury and an uncompromising artistic vision”. — Weekend Special, 2018

Nikita Boriso-Glebsky was born in 1985 in Volgodonsk. He graduated Moscow State Conservatory and its PhD program (class of professor Eduard Grach and assistant professor Tatiana Berkul). He then improved his technique under the supervision of Augustin Dumay in Brussels and Ana Chumachenko in Kronberg.

He participated in international masterclass Keshet Eilon in Israel under the patronage of Shlomo Mintz.

Nikita is a winner and a laureate of many international competitions including: the Yampolsky International Violin Competition (2002, 3rd prize), the International Competition for Violin in Kloster Schöntal (2003, 1st prize), the Joseph Joachim International Violin Competition (2006, laureate), the Moscow International David Oistrakh Violin Competition (2007, 1st prize), the International Tchaikovsky Competition (2007, 2nd prize), the Queen Elisabeth Music Competition in Brussels (2009, 5th prize).

In 2010 he won first prize at both the International Fritz Kreisler Competition in Vienna and the International Jean Sibelius Violin Competition in Helsinki, and third prize at the Montreal International Music Competition. In 2013 he won Grand Prix of the Monte Carlo Violin Masters contest in Monaco.

Born in Italy of Russian origin and Argentinian and German nationality, Ana Chumachenco started playing violin at the age of four under the supervision of her father - a disciple of Leopold Auer - and later with Ljerko Spiller in Buenos Aires.

After enjoying considerable success in her early years in South America, she returned to Europe at the age of 17 to continue her studies. Just one year later she was awarded the gold medal at the Carl Flesch competition in London and, a few years later, the silver medal at the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels. Her musical mentors in those years included Joseph Szigeti, Sándor Végh and Yehudi Menuhin.

Besides her appearances in recitals and as a soloist with leading orchestras, Ana Chumachenco devotes much of her time to chamber music. For more than 20 years she has played in the Munich String Trio with violinist Oscar Lysy and cellist Walter Nothas.

Michelangelo Lentini was born in Bari, in 1982, in a family of musicians; to date he has performed in more than 50 Countries of the world. As a soloist he played with the Bari Chamber EurOrchestra, with the Bari Symphony Orchestra, with the Grosseto Symphony Orchestra, with Turkish State Orchestra, with the Hradek Cralove Simphony, with the Moravian Simphony Orchestra, with the “Orchestra Uto Ughi per I Giovani”, with the Lecco Symphony Orchestra, with the Toluca Symphony Orchestra, with the Murcia Symphony Orchestra, the Pueblo Simphony and the Elche Symphony Orchestra; collaborating with Directors such as Claudio Scimone, Bruno Aprea, Emin Guven Yaslikam, Jesus Medina, Jacob Chi, Berislav Skenderovich, Marco Angius, Roberto Gianola, Augusto Loppi, Sebastiano Panebianco and Josè Miguel Rodilla, performing the most important Concertos of the violin repertoire.

In 1998 Uto Ughi chose him as Concert Meister of his Youth Orchestra, subsequently inviting him to play in the staff of "The Philharmonics of Rome ". Since 2006 he is regularly invited to play in the prestigious staff of "I Solisti Veneti di Claudio Scimone" - nowadays conducted by Giualiano Carella -  with whom he performed also as soloist in the most important theaters around the world. 

Born in Paris, Galpérine studied at the Conservatoire de Paris and  the Juilliard School in New-York. His principal masters were Roland  Charmy, Ivan Galamian and Henryk Szeryng. He was laureate of the "Carl  Flesch" (London) and "Paganini" (Genoa) competitions and First Prize in  the Belgrade Competition. He was awarded the Winner of the SACEM  Georges Enesco prize. He also holds a degree in philosophy from the  Sorbonne. 

Galpérine was a soloist for the Orchestre Lamoureux, the Orchestre  Mondial des Jeunesses Musicales,[1] the Monte-Carlo Philharmonic  Orchestra, the Sofia soloists, the American Chamber Orchestra[2] and  chamber orchestras from Belgrade, Tuscany, Bratislava, Cologne etc. He  played notably under the direction of Manuel Rosenthal, Michel  Tabachnik, Antoni Ros-Marbà, Bruno Mantovani, Paul Méfano, Charles  Groves, Francesco Molinari-Pradelli, Marcello Viotti, Patrice  Fontanarosa, Pierre Roullier, Philippe Bernold. 

As a chamber musician, he performed at the Library of Congress Summer  Festival of Washington DC Musicades de Lyon,[5] the Festival des  Arcs [fr], the Nancyphonies [fr], at the Asolo, Siena and Cremona festivals,  and in the Radio France concert series. He is a founding member of the  American Chamber Player]an ensemble that was in residence at the  Library of Congress during ten years. He has given hundreds of concerts  for chamber music societies in the United States and Canada. In France,  he is a permanent guest artist of the Ensemble Stanislas de Nancy. 

After bright successes at the most precious violin competitions Sergei Dogadin acquired international fame as one of the best violinist of his generation.

In 2019 Sergei was awarded First Prize and Golden Medal at the XVI International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. Among his other significant victories such major contents as IX Joseph Joachim International Violin Competition Hannover and Singapore International Violin Competition.

Sergei is the grant-holder of the Russian Ministry of Culture,  Prize-winner of the Mozart Society in Dortmund (Germany), winner of the award established by Maestro Yuri Temirkanov and winner of the Prize of the President of Russia.  

Born in Yerevan, Armenia, Sergey Khachatryan won First Prize at the VIII International Jean Sibelius Competition in Helsinki in 2000, becoming the youngest ever winner in the history of the competition. In 2005 he claimed First Prize at the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels. 

In recent seasons, Sergey has performed with the Südwestrundfunk Symphonieorchester (Christoph Eschenbach), Bamberger Symphoniker (Herbert Blomstedt and Jonathan Nott), Münchner Philharmoniker (James Gaffigan), Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra (Juraj Valčuha), Mariinsky Orchestra (Valery Gergiev) and Orchestre de Paris (Andris Nelsons and Gianandrea Noseda). He has also collaborated with the Berliner Philharmoniker, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Radio Filharmonisch Orkest, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Orchestre National de France, London Symphony, London Philharmonic, Philharmonia Orchestra, NHK Symphony and Melbourne Symphony Orchestras. 

Sergey’s recent appearances in the US include with the Seattle Symphony (Ludovic Morlot), Cleveland Orchestra (Jakub Hrůša) and National Symphony Orchestra Washington (Vasily Petrenko). He has also visited the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, and San Francisco Symphony as well as the Ravinia, Aspen, Blossom and Mostly Mozart Festivals. 

Described as “a magnetic presence” and “a constantly fascinating sound technician” (New York Classical Review), Russian violinist Alena Baeva is considered one of the most exciting, versatile, and alluring soloists active on the world stage today.

Baeva’s career as an international soloist of the highest renown has grown at an extraordinary pace over recent seasons. She now enjoys a particularly strong working partnership with Paavo Järvi, with whom recent and future collaborations include performances with the Estonian Festival Orchestra, NHK Symphony Orchestra Tokyo, and the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich. Another such regular collaborative partnership is that with Vladimir Jurowski, with whom Baeva has both recorded and performed on numerous occasions, including with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, and Moscow’s Russian State Symphony Orchestra ‘Evgeny Svetlanov’.

«… A wonderful talent with a lively temperament, virtuosic brilliance and a very high professional level …»

Violinist Haik Kazazyan has performed with such orchestras as Orchestra of The Mariinsky Theater, Orchestre National de France, Scottish Royal National Orchestra, Russian National Orchestra,  Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Yu. Simonov, Moscow Symphony Orchestra named after E. Svetlanov,  Prague Philharmonic orchestra,  Dublin National Orchestra, National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra, Munich Chamber orchestra,  Moscow chamber orchestra  ‘Musica Viva’, Kaunas City Symphony Orchestra, Poznan Philharmonic Orchestra,  Katowice Radio Symphony Orchestra,  and many others. 

The musicians Haik worked with as a soloist and chamber musician are conductors Valery Gergiev, Teodor Currentzis,  Andrew Litton, Vladimir Fedoseyev,  Alexander Liebreich,  Alexander Lazarev,  Constantine Orbelian,  Jonathan Darlington,  Ricardo Averbach,  Alan Buribayev, Jac van Steen, David Brophy,  Pavel Kogan,  Alexander Polianichko,  pianists Denis Matsuev, Freddy Kempf, Eliso Virsaladze, Aleksey Lubimov,  Alex Kobrin,  violinists Pavel Vernikov, Gordan Nikolitch,  cellists Natalia Gutman,  Alexander Rudin and many other great musicians of our generation. 

Universally hailed as one of the world’s finest musicians, and often referred to as the greatest living string player in the world today, Grammy award winner Maxim Vengerov also enjoys international acclaim as a conductor and is one of the most in-demand soloists.

Born in 1974, he began his career as a solo violinist at the age of five, won the Wieniawski and Carl Flesch international competitions at ages 10 and 15 respectively, studied with Galina Tourchaninova and Zakhar Bron, made his first recording at the age of 10, and went on to record extensively for high-profile labels including Melodia, Teldec and EMI, earning among others, Grammy and Gramophone artist of the year awards.

In 2007 he followed in the footsteps of his mentor, the late Mstislav Rostropovich, and turned his attention to conducting and in 2010 was appointed the first chief conductor of the Gstaad Festival Orchestra. June 2014 saw Mr Vengerov graduate with a Diploma of Excellence from the Moscow Institute of Ippolitov-Ivanov with professor Yuri Simonov and he has since finished a further 2-year program of opera conducting.