Kopelman Quartet - Founder Members

Founder Members

Mikhail Kopelman, first violin, (b. 1947, Uzhhorod, western Ukraine), a former member of the Bolshoi Theatre orchestra and concertmaster of the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, was appointed first violin of the Borodin Quartet in 1976, and remained with them for twenty years. He was with the quartet in 1994 when it was awarded a Royal Philharmonic Society Music Award. From 1980-1993, Kopelman was on the faculty of the Moscow Conservatory teaching both solo violin and string quartet. He emigrated with his family to the United States in 1993, joining the Tokyo String Quartet as first violinist in 1996. From 1996-2002 he was a professor at the Yale School of Music, coaching chamber music. In 2002, he was appointed Professor of Violin at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York.

Boris Kuschnir, second violin, (b. 1948, Kiev, Ukraine) is a professor at the Konservatorium Wien and also at the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst, Graz. His pupils have included Julian Rachlin and Nikolaj Znaider. He worked with with Dmitri Shostakovich and David Oistrakh (with whom he also studied). He was a founder member of a founder member of the Moscow String Quartet (1970), the Vienna Schubert Trio (1984), and the Vienna Brahms Trio (1993). He was awarded the use of the "Rouse-Boughton" violin by Antonio Stradivari (c. 1698), belonging to the National Bank of Austria, in recognition of his services to music in Austria. He is a regular jury member of a number of major international music competitions.

Igor Sulyga, viola, (b. 1951, Lviv, Ukraine) was a founder member of the Moscow String Quartet (together with Boris Kuschnir) and worked with Dmitri Shostakovich on the composer’s late quartets. He subsequently played in the Moscow Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra, under the directorship of Vladimir Spivakov, for twenty years and also played in Spivakov’s string quartet. Sulyga moved to Spain in 1990 and teaches both viola and chamber music at the La Escuela Internacional de Música de la Fundación Príncipe de Asturias, Oviedo.

Mikhail Milman, cello, studied with Natalia Gutman and Mstislav Rostropovich and was principal cellist of the Moscow Virtuosi for twenty years. He collaborated frequently with the Borodin Quartet in concerts and recordings. After settling in Spain, he spent some years as principal cello of the Orquesta Sinfónica del Principado de Asturias, Oviedo, and is currently principal cello of the Orquesta de Córdoba.