The Kopelman Quartet is a Russian string quartet founded in 2002 by Mikhail Kopelman (violin), Boris Kuschnir (violin), Igor Sulyga (viola) and Mikhail Milman (cello).
The Kopelman Quartet
Mikhail Kopelman - Violin Boris Kuschnir - Violin Igor Sulyga - Viola Mikhail Milman - Cello
Biography
Founded by experienced chamber 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 all graduated from the Moscow Conservatoire in the 1970’s, this institution’s golden age, 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 though they pursued individual careers for 25 years before founding the quartet in 2002.
Mikhail Kopelman, first violin, was the renowned leader of the Borodin Quartet for 20 years, and was awarded the Royal Philharmonic Society Award and the Concertgebouw Silver Medal of Honour. Boris Kuschnir, second violin, is a distinguished teacher whose pupils include Julian Rachlin and Nikolai Znaider. Igor Sulyga, viola, played for 20 years in the Moscow Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra, under Vladimir Spivakov. 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 for 20 years principal cellist of the Moscow Virtuosi 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 diary soon included engagements at venues such as the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, and the Wigmore Hall, London. Their Edinburgh Festival concert in the summer of 2003 received extraordinary reviews, referring to “every hallmark of distinguished musicianship” and “great humanity in the finesse of their playing”.
The Kopelman Quartet has given concerts in the United States, the United Kingdom, Spain, Portugal, Austria, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Slovakia, Cyprus and Canada. Festivals in which they have played include the Edinburgh International Festival, the Valladolid Festival, the Zurich Festival and the Ravinia Festival in the United States. Future engagements include their return to the Concertgebouw, the Wigmore Hall and the National Auditorium, Madrid, as well as concerts in Belgium, Denmark, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United States of America.
Two recordings are planned for release in 2006: the first, for Nimbus Records, is of Prokofiev and Shostakovich; the second, of Tchaikovsky and Schubert, will be on the new Wigmore Live label.
Instruments: Mikhail Kopelman: J B Guadagnini, 1773, Turin Boris Kuschnir: Stradivarius "La Rouse Boughton", 1703, by courtesy of the Austrian National Bank. Igor Sulyga: Pietro Giovanni Mantegazza, Milan, circa 1780 Mikhail Milman: David Tecchler, Rome, 1722
April 2005
Critical Acclaim for the Kopelman Quartet “…the fact that this phenomenal Russian ensemble was playing an all-Russian program only added to the collective sense of anticipation. Needless to say, the group lived up to its lofty reputation.”
Rochester, N.Y. Democrat and Chronicle November 10, 2004
“The masterful third movement of the Tchaikovsky [Quartet No. 3 in E-flat minor, op. 30] is not a funeral march, but an Andante Funebre, a funeral walk. This was Russian music in the hands of Russians, the musical expression of the tortured soul, and the Kopelman Quartet emptied their hearts into the performance…. Russian music and Russian musicians. This concert made me certain that no better coupling exists.”
Chicago November 9, 2004
“…this partnership of old pros and old friends seems to have netted a group that sings as one voice, with Kopelman as the stunning lead singer…. That the Kopelman Quartet can have it all – clarity of line and texture, plus richness of sound and a vast color palette – is not in doubt.”
Ann Arbor The Ann Arbor News November 7, 2004
“Rod McLoughlin enjoys ‘the greatest concert’ he has heard at the Arts Centre… “I wouldn’t argue with a fellow member of the audience who thought this the greatest concert he’d ever heard at the Arts Centre. Certainly it was that kind of experience that takes you beyond mere pleasure to something altogether deeper.”
Jersey, UK Jersey Evening Post June 10, 2004
“If Sunday’s concert of the Kopelman Quartet was a fair representation of the group, they ought to be one of the top quartets in the world…”
San Francisco October 14, 2003
“…the Kopelmans may be new to Britain, but on the strength of what they did on Saturday morning these Russians deserve to be given a series to themselves next year. “…if anyone can reveal it [Tchaikovsky’s Third Quartet] as a masterpiece, it is a Russian ensemble such as this, who know how to play it and clearly adore its every note. “Here was music-making of total integrity, with each player listening intently, and visibly, to his companions.”
Edinburgh, Scotland The Herald August 25, 2003