The Kopelman Quartet

Overview

Music Worcester proudly presents one of the major string Quartets in the world; The Kopelman Quartet bears an extraordinary legacy in chamber music.  Founded by remarkable musicians steeped in the standards and style of the classic Russian school, the group carries forward a rich inheritance of technical excellence, lyricism, grace and musical integrity.

Mikhail Kopelman and Boris Kuschnir on violin, Igor Sulyga on viola, and Mikhail Milman on cello, all graduated from the Moscow Conservatory during its "golden age" of the 1970's, when students worked with such teachers of world renown...Shostakovich, Rostropovich, Oistrakh and Gutman.

Tickets:  $39, $36, students $20 - $15 at door

Related Sites

• Kopelman Quartet web site

Program

• Borodin:           String Quartet No.1 in A Major
• Shostakovich:   Two Pieces (Elegie and Polka)
• Brahms:            String Quartet No.2 in A minor

About the Artists

One of the major string quartets of the world, the Kopelman Quartet bears an extraordinary legacy in chamber music. Founded by remarkable musicians steeped in the standards and style of the classic Russian school, the Kopelman Quartet carries forward a rich inheritance of technical excellence, lyricism, grace and musical integrity.

Mikhail Kopelman, Boris Kuschnir, Igor Sulyga and Mikhail Milman each graduated from the Moscow Conservatoire in the 1970’s, the “golden age” of this institution, when the students regularly worked with musicians and teachers such as David Oistrakh, Boris Belenky, Yuri Yankelevich, Fyodor Druzhinin, Dmitri Shostakovich, Mstislav Rostropovich and Natalia Gutman. These strong musical influences have remained with the members of the Kopelman Quartet, even as they pursued individual careers for twenty-five years before founding the quartet in 2002. In a very short time the Kopelman Quartet has earned acclaim throughout the world on the most distinguished concert stages.

Mikhail Kopelman, first violin, was the renowned leader of the Borodin Quartet for twenty years, and first violinist of the Tokyo String Quartet for seven years. He was awarded the Royal Philharmonic Society Award and the Concertgebouw Silver Medal of Honour. Boris Kuschnir, second violin, is a distinguished professor at the Conservatoire in Vienna, whose pupils include Julian Rachlin and Nikolai Znaider/. He won numerous prizes at international violin and chamber music competitions (Paris, Belgrade, Sion, Trapani, Bratislava, Florence, Trieste, Hamburg, Lockenhaus). Igor Sulyga, viola, played for twenty years with Vladimir Spivakov, in the Moscow Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra and in his string quartet. As founding members of the Moscow String Quartet, both Boris Kuschnir and Igor Sulyga worked with Dmitri Shostakovich on his late quartets. Mikhail Milman, cello, was principal cellist of the Moscow Virtuosi was for twenty years and collaborated frequently with the Borodin Quartet in concerts and recordings.

The common roots and background of the musicians enabled the Kopelman Quartet quickly to grow to maturity, and their Edinburgh Festival concert, just one year after their foundation, received extraordinary reviews, referring to “every hallmark of distinguished musicianship” and “great humanity in the finesse of their playing”.

Now established as significant chamber ensemble, the quartet has played at many major international venues, including the Musikverein, Vienna, and the Dom Muziki, Moscow, and appears regularly at venues such as the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam and the Wigmore Hall, London. Chamber muisic partners have included Elisabeth Leonskaja, Mischa Maisky and Julian Rachlin.