In my own words:
At the age of seven I was introduced to the violin and fell in love with it.
I finished eight years of education cycle at the children’s music school in Podolsk. I loved the music, but didn’t take it very seriously as a potential profession, so I haven’t given the time needed to perfect my craft, while on the sheer talent alone was still one of the best violinists at my school.
At the age of fifteen I played in the Haifa’s Young Symphonic Orchestra on violin and viola.
I started utilizing acoustic violin professionally at the age of seventeen.
At around eighteen years of age I took some private lessons with professor Verstrepen in Montreal.
Because I wasn’t interested in pursuing career in classical music I decided to continue without lessons and since then studied on my own.
Right away I started composing and improvising on the violin, and that is the core of all I do.
It wasn’t about technique but really the melody and the feeling.
Since I was a kid I had always music in my core. It is the essence of my life. My strongest connection with nature and people.
I loved performing with other musicians and also play on my own. I was also experimenting in the 90’s with effects and a speaker. I recorded multiple demos of my songs featuring acoustic violin as a lead instrument, backed by a full arrangement. It was in Pop, Rock, New Age and Metal styles. I tried to audition to many famous bands, but didn’t take into consideration that a classic line-up of drums, bass, guitar and vocal didn’t leave much room for someone like me.
I kept dreaming that one day I will form a successful Metal band and will be able to fully express my ideas.
In the mid-nineties I’ve purchased my first electric violin and did some rehearsals and recordings with it, but haven’t performed live on electric until around 2005.
Thus, acoustic violin was the most important instrument for me for many years. After about 10 years of performing live strictly on electric until 2013, I’ve came full circle.
Since 2017 up until 2023 I have been performing only on acoustic violin.
I had to rediscover it, and took some time to get back into shape, because playing on electric has damaged my acoustic technique and perception.
Since around 2023, I have made some serious changes the way I approach my playing, and zeroed-in on grave mistakes with both right and the left hand techniques that were giving me problems since childhood. With patience and determination I am perfecting my playing, only this time fully consciously and with wisdom of the acquired experience.
In 2023 I’ve also rediscovered my original music, after having been playing mainly cover songs in previous five years. That gave me much inspiration and realization just how much better the compositions sounded with the acoustic violin and my current quality of playing, and how much I loved this combination.
I’ve decided to re-record the most important songs from my discography with acoustic violin, making the melodies and ideas more suited to my current playing style.