COURSES TAUGHT
- Applied Lessons
- Violin Performance Class
EDUCATION
- MM, St. Petersburg State Conservatory, Russia
- BM, St. Petersburg State Conservatory, Russia
ENSEMBLES
- San Francisco Symphony, Concertmaster, 2001–Present
- London Symphony Orchestra, Concertmaster, 1986–2001
What is your hometown?
Saint Petersburg, Russia
What is your favorite recording?
Any recording by Heifetz.
What are you passionate about outside of music?
All kinds of sport.
Who was a major teacher you studied under?
Michael Waiman.
What was the defining moment when you decided to pursue music as a career?
Hearing Tchaikovsky's 6th Symphony for the first time.
What was a turning point in your career?
Being the concertmaster of the London Symphony Orchestra.
If you weren't a musician or teacher, what do you think you would be doing now?
Writing novels.
If you could play only two composers for the rest of your life, who would they be?
Mozart and Shostakovich.
From a music history perspective, what year and city are most important to you?
Paris, 1910–1930.
What are your most important collaborations?
Michael Tilson Thomas, Mstislav Rostropovich, and Leonard Bernstein.
What recordings can we hear you on?
R. Strauss: Ein Heldenleben, CBS Records
What is your unrealized project?
Performing all Beethoven Sonatas.
