BORIS KUSCHNIR

BORIS KUSCHNIR
Violin
“Boris Kuschnir is one of the most excellent teachers who brought up worldfamous
performers. Kuschnir has his own fantastic talent in education and his contribution could be
compared to those of Leopold Auer, Carl Flesch or Ivan Galamian who formed own violin
performing schools. Kuschnir adapted his creative educational system and produced many
eminent soloists…” (Strad Magazine)
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 AllunionsCompetition 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, a
Professor at the Konservatorium Wien University in 1984 and also a distinguished Professor
at the University of Music Graz in 1999. His reputation as a teacher won international
recognition with the recent outstanding success of his pupils, Julian Rachlin (1st Prize
Eurovision Grand Prix for Young Musicians, Amsterdam 1988), Nikolaj Znaider(1st Prize of
the Queen Elisabeth Competition, Brussels 1997), Lidia Baich (1st Prize Eurovision Grand
Prix for Young Musicians, Vienna 1998), Dalibor Karvay 1st Prize Eurovision Grand Prix for
Young Musicians, Berlin 2002; 1. Prize International Tibor Varga Competition, Switzerland
2003; 1. Prize David Oistrakh Competition, Moscow 2008), Alexandra Soumm (1st Prize
Eurovision Grand Prix for Young Musicians, Lucerne 2004), Lorenzo Gatto (2. Prize Queen
Elizabeth Competition, Brussels 2009) and Aleksey Igudesman (Igudesman & Joo).
In addition to this he educated more than 40 laureates of national and international
competitions, his pupils have been appointed Professors at Universities, playing in various
chamber music ensembles and orchestras of the world ‒ 5 of his students play at the
Vienna Philharmonics.
At the same time he constantly gives masterclasses and is a jury member of various
international music competitions such as Queen Elizabeth Competition in Brussels,
Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis,
Niccolò Paganini Competition in Genua, the Jacques Thibaud Competition in Paris,
Joseph Joachim Competition in Hannover (Preselection), Tibor Varga Competition in
Switzerland, Michael Hill Competition in New Zealand, Eurovision Competition, David
Oistrakh Competition in Moscow, Pablo de Sarasate Competition in Pamplona, George
Enescu Competition in Bucharest, Violin Masters in Monte Carlo.
In 1984 Boris Kuschnir founded the Wiener Schubert Trio which received many prestigious
awards, among them the 1. Prize at the international Chamber Music Competition Sergio
Lorenzi in Trieste, Italy with Sandor Vegh as president of the jury, the Mozart
Interpretationspreis 1988 in Vienna and the Prize of the Ernst von Siemens Foundation
1990. Boris Kuschnir played as a soloist and a chamber musician in some of the world s
most illustrious venues: Wiener Musikverein, Teatro alla Scala in Milan, La Fenice in Venice,
the Wigmore Hall London, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Berlin Philharmonic
Hall, the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris, as well as in the Hall of the Tchaikovsky
Conservatoire Moscow, the Ishibashi Memorial Hall and the Suntory Hall in Tokyo. He has
taken part in numerous festivals such as Salzburg Festival, Gidon Kremer s Lockenhaus
Festival, Vienna Festival, Besançon, Wahington, Spoleto, Naples, Stresa, Bregenz Festival,
Mecklenburg-Vorpommen, December Evening (Swiatoslaw Richter Winterfestival) ‒ Moscow, White Nights ‒ St. Petersburg, Julian Rachlin & Friends Festival ‒ Dubrovnik,
Verbier Festival ‒ Switzerland.
Boris Kuschnir appears with such illustrious partners as Elisabeth Leonskaja, Boris Berezovsky,
Leif Ove Andsnes, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Itamar Golan, Stefan Vladar, Elena Bashkirova, Julian
Rachlin, Nikolaj Znaider, Maxim Vengerov, Dmitry Sitkovetsky, Renaud Capucon, David
Garrett, Yuri Bashmet, Gérard Caussé, Nobuko Imai, Lawrence Power, Veronika Hagen, David
Carpenter, Mischa Maisky, Boris Pergamenschikow, Natalia Gutman, Miklós Perényi, Steven
Isserlis, Gautier Capuçon, Sol Gabetta, Jean-Guihen Queyras, Ivan Monighetti and Hatto
Beyerle, Thomas Kakuska, Valentin Erben of Alban Berg Quartet.
Both as soloist and chamber musician Boris Kuschnir made numerous recordings, notably
the complete Mozart piano trios for EMI, which were released in the Mozart year 1991. In
1993 he founded the Vienna Brahms Trio which made their highly acclaimed debut at the
Gidon Kremer s Lockenhaus Festival in Austria. In 1996, the Trio won First Prize at the 9th
International Chamber Music Competition in Illzach, France. Their recording of
Schumann s complete works for piano trio was released on the Naxos label in 1999.
He was co-founder of the Kopelman Quartet in 2003 with which he is giving concert all
over the world since and has released CDs at Nimbus Records and Wigmore Hall Live.
In 2008 the President of the Republic of Austria awarded Boris Kuschnir with the Grand
Decoration of Honour in Silver for Services to the Republic of Austria .
Boris Kuschnir plays a violin made by Antonio Stradivari ‒ La Rouse-Boughton ‒ made in
Cremona, 1703. It was given to him as a loan in 1991 by the Austrian National Bank in
recognition of his artistic performance and his service rendered to music.