Aleksey Igudesman was born in Leningrad at a very young age. He has never won any competitions, mainly because he has never entered any. During his studies at the prestigious Yehudi Menuhin School, he read the entire plays of Bernhard Shaw, Oscar Wilde, and Anton Chekhov, which didn’t improve his violin playing, but made him feel foolishly somewhat superior to other less intellectually endowed, yet harder practising colleagues. After studying with Boris Kuschnir at the Vienna Conservatoire and being told many times by many people that they were rather worried about his future, he embarked on a successful career playing, composing, and arranging for his string trio, “Triology”, recording several CD’s for BMG, working in Hollywood with Academy Award® winner Hans Zimmer, and performing with Bobby McFerrin, Julian Rachlin, Janine Jansen, Sir Roger Moore, John Malkovich, and other people who are less famous, but just as great. Aleksey Igudesman plays with a bow made by the Boston-based bowmaker, Benoit Roland, and on a Santo Seraphin violin from the year 1717.