Biography
“What a talented violinist! Wonderful tone, great virtuosity, strong and well-coordinated fingers, and an altogether excellent musical structure!”
– David Oistrakh
“… a musician of feeling who combines Russian intensity with a Viennese fullness and suppleness of tone. With him, intimacy and passionate expression are in the best of hands.”
– Süddeutsche Zeitung
Life
Boris Kuschnir was born into a musical family in Kyiv in 1948. At the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, he studied violin with Boris Belenky. He subsequently pursued postgraduate studies in string quartet playing with Valentin Berlinsky of the Borodin Quartet at the Gnessin Institute in Moscow. His artistic development was profoundly shaped by repeated encounters with Dmitri Shostakovich, with whom he worked on the composer’s late quartets, and with David Oistrakh, who also taught him.
Career
His career began in 1969, when he was one of three prizewinners at the All-Union Competition in Leningrad, performing Beethoven’s Violin Concerto in the final with the Leningrad Philharmonic under Yuri Temirkanov. Numerous prizes followed at international violin and chamber music competitions in Paris, Belgrade, Sion, Trapani, Bratislava, Florence, Trieste, Gorizia, Hamburg and Vercelli. In 1970 he founded the Moscow String Quartet, of which he remained a permanent member until 1979.
In 1981 Boris Kuschnir moved to Austria; he became an Austrian citizen in 1982. From 1981 to 1983 he was first concertmaster of the Bruckner Orchestra Linz, and from 1982 he taught at the Bruckner Conservatory Linz (now the Anton Bruckner Private University). He has been a professor at the Music and Arts University of the City of Vienna since 1984. In 1999 he was appointed full professor at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz, where he is now professor emeritus and also completed his artistic doctorate (Dr. artium).
Students
His teaching has gained international recognition, above all through the careers of his students, including:
- Julian Rachlin – First prize Eurovision Young Musicians, Amsterdam 1988
- Nikolaj Znaider – First prize Queen Elisabeth Competition, Brussels 1997
- Lidia Baich – First prize Eurovision Young Musicians, Vienna 1998
- Dalibor Karvay – First prize Eurovision Young Musicians, Berlin 2002; First prize International Tibor Varga Competition, Sion 2003; First prize International David Oistrakh Violin Competition, Moscow 2008; Professor of Violin since 2023 at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (mdw)
- Alexandra Soumm – First prize Eurovision Young Musicians, Lucerne 2004
- Pavel Milyukov – First prize Aram Khachaturian International Competition, Yerevan 2012; Second prize Seoul International Music Competition 2012; Third prize International Tchaikovsky Competition, Moscow 2015
- Albrecht Menzel – First prize and Grand Prix Karol Lipiński International Violin Competition, Toruń (Poland) 2016; Third prize Premio Paganini International Violin Competition, Genoa (Italy) 2015; Third prize International David Oistrakh Violin Competition, Moscow (Russia) 2010
- Diana Tishchenko – First prize Concours Long-Thibaud, Paris 2018
- Sergey Dogadin – First prize International Tchaikovsky Competition, Moscow 2019; First prize Singapore International Violin Competition 2018; First prize Joseph Joachim International Violin Competition, Hanover 2015; Grand Prix International Yuri Yankelevich Violin Competition, Omsk 2013; Second prize Shanghai Isaac Stern International Violin Competition, Shanghai 2016
- Eugene Chepovetsky – First prize Oleh Krysa International Violin Competition, Lviv 2019; First prize Andrea Postacchini International Violin Competition, Fermo 2019; Second prize International David Oistrakh Violin Competition, Moscow 2008
- María Dueñas – First prize Menuhin Competition, Richmond (USA) 2021; First prize International Viktor Tretyakov Violin Competition, Krasnoyarsk 2021; First prize International Vladimir Spivakov Violin Competition, Ufa; First prize Zhuhai International Mozart Competition, Zhuhai (China) 2017
- Patricija Avšič – First prize and two special prizes Jenő Hubay Violin Competition, Miskolc (Hungary) 2021; First prize and Grand Prix Yuri Yankelevich Violin Competition, Omsk (Russia) 2022; First prize Leonid Kogan Violin Competition, Brussels (Belgium) 2022; First prize Victoria BCN Violin Competition, Barcelona (Spain) 2025; First prize Haydn Violin Competition, Vienna (Austria) 2025
- Pilar Policano – First prize in the second age group and the “Best Sonata” special prize 6th Ilona Fehér International Violin Competition, Budapest (Hungary) 2026; Arthur Waser Award, Lucerne (Switzerland) 2025; First premio assoluto 13th Dinu Lipatti International Music Competition for Youth, Tivoli (Italy) 2025
- Yuuki Wong – Second prize Michael Hill International Violin Competition, New Zealand 2007
- Lorenzo Gatto – Second prize Queen Elisabeth Competition, Brussels 2009
- Julia Turnovsky – Third prize International David Oistrakh Violin Competition, Moscow 2008
- Eldbjørg Hemsing – Soloist
- Ragnhild Hemsing – Soloist
- Patricia Kopatchinskaja – Soloist
- Ondrej Janoska – Janoska Ensemble
- Aleksey Igudesman – Igudesman & Joo
In addition, he has taught more than 40 prizewinners at national and international music competitions. Some of his students now hold professorships themselves, while many perform in chamber ensembles and orchestras around the world. Seven became members of the Vienna Philharmonic or the Vienna State Opera Orchestra: Jewgenij Andrusenko, Kirill Kobantschenko, Tibor Kováč, Alina Pinchas and Michael Strasser, as well as Christoph Koncz and Fedor Rudin. Vahid Khadem-Missagh is deputy first concertmaster of the Tonkünstler Orchestra of Lower Austria.
Teaching & Juries
Boris Kuschnir regularly gives masterclasses, including at the Verbier Festival Academy, the Kronberg Academy and the Centro Superior Katarina Gurska in Madrid. He is also a sought-after jury member at international competitions, including the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels, the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis, the Premio Paganini in Genoa, the Concours Long-Thibaud in Paris, the Joseph Joachim Competition in Hanover, the Singapore International Violin Competition, the Tibor Varga Competition in Sion, the Michael Hill International Violin Competition in New Zealand, Eurovision Young Musicians, the International David Oistrakh Violin Competition in Moscow, the Vladimir Spivakov Violin Competition in Ufa, the Yuri Yankelevich Violin Competition in Omsk, the Concurso Pablo Sarasate in Pamplona, the George Enescu Competition in Bucharest, the Seoul International Music Competition, the Violin Masters in Monte Carlo, the ARD International Music Competition in Munich, the Louis Spohr Competition in Weimar, the Classic Strings Competition in Dubai, the Andrea Postacchini Competition in Fermo, the Aram Khachaturian International Competition in Yerevan, the Ilona Fehér International Violin Competition in Budapest and the Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition.
Chamber Music
In 1984 he founded the Vienna Schubert Trio, which received numerous international awards, including first prize at the Sergio Lorenzi International Chamber Music Competition in Trieste in 1985, chaired by Sándor Végh; the Mozart Interpretation Prize of the Mozart Society of Vienna in 1988; and a grant from the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation (Munich) in 1990. In 1993 he founded the Vienna Brahms Trio, which made its debut at Gidon Kremer’s chamber music festival in Lockenhaus and won first prize at the 9th International Chamber Music Competition in Illzach (Alsace) in 1996. In 2002 Boris Kuschnir co-founded the Kopelman Quartet, with which he has since performed worldwide.
As a soloist and chamber musician, he has appeared in major concert halls including the Musikverein and Wiener Konzerthaus in Vienna, Carnegie Hall (Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage) in New York, Teatro alla Scala in Milan, La Fenice in Venice, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Berlin Philharmonie, Wigmore Hall in London, the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, the Great Hall of the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, and Ishibashi Memorial Hall and Suntory Hall in Tokyo. His festival appearances include the Salzburg Festival, the Verbier Festival, Gidon Kremer’s festival in Lockenhaus, the Wiener Festwochen, the Bregenz Festival and the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival, as well as festivals in Besançon, Washington, Spoleto, Naples and Stresa, December Nights (Sviatoslav Richter’s winter festival) in Moscow, White Nights in St Petersburg and Julian Rachlin & Friends in Dubrovnik.
His chamber music partners include Evgeny Kissin, Elisabeth Leonskaja, András Schiff, Boris Berezovsky, Leif Ove Andsnes, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Itamar Golan, Stefan Vladar, Julian Rachlin, Nikolaj Znaider, Maxim Vengerov, Dmitry Sitkovetsky, Renaud Capuçon, David Garrett, Yuri Bashmet, Gérard Caussé, Nobuko Imai, Lawrence Power, Veronika Hagen, David Aaron Carpenter, Antoine Tamestit, Lars Anders Tomter, Mischa Maisky, Boris Pergamenschikow, Natalia Gutman, Miklós Perényi, Steven Isserlis, Gautier Capuçon, Sol Gabetta, Gary Hoffman, Jean-Guihen Queyras and Ivan Monighetti, as well as Hatto Beyerle, Thomas Kakuska and Valentin Erben of the Alban Berg Quartet.
Recordings
His discography includes numerous recordings as a soloist and chamber musician. Highlights include the complete Mozart piano trios, released by EMI for the Mozart anniversary year in 1991, and the complete Schumann piano trios with the Vienna Brahms Trio, released by Naxos in two volumes in 1999 and 2000. Recordings with the Kopelman Quartet are available on Nimbus Records and Wigmore Hall Live. In 2025 Deutsche Grammophon released Wieniawski’s Étude-Caprice Op. 18 No. 2 with María Dueñas on her album Paganini: 24 Caprices.
Honours
Federal President Heinz Fischer awarded him the Grand Decoration of Honour in Silver for Services to the Republic of Austria in 2008 and the Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art, First Class in 2013. In December 2014 the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing appointed him an honorary professor. In May 2019 Governor Hermann Schützenhöfer presented him with the Grand Decoration of Honour of the Province of Styria. On 23 October 2023, City Councillor for Culture Veronica Kaup-Hasler presented him with the Silver Decoration of Honour for Services to the Province of Vienna at Vienna City Hall.