Violinist NICKOLAI KURGANOV was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, into a family of musicians. He began to study music at the age of five with his mother Ludmila Adzhemova, a renowned violin teacher. Later he went to the Special Music School at the St. Petersburg, where his teacher was Irina Etigon. Mr. Kurganov has appeared as soloist with many Russian orchestras, including the St. Petersburg Radio and Television Symphony, the St. Petersburg State Orchestra, and the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, as well as orchestras in Novosibirsk, Kharkov, Voronezh, and Gorky. At age 15, he won Second Prize at the Russian Federation National Violin Competition.

Mr. Kurganov has participated in many festivals in Europe and Russia, including the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, the Zelt Music Festival, and the “White Nights” festival in St. Petersburg. He has made several recordings for Russian radio, including works by Mozart, Sarasate, and Tchaikovsky with the St. Petersburg Radio and Television Symphony, and the Bruch G-minor Violin Concerto with the St. Petersburg Academie Kapella Symphony.

After Mr. Kurganov came to the United States, he studied with Robert Lipsett at the University of Southern California, where he received the Jascha Heifetz Violin Scholarship and received his Advanced Studies diploma. Mr. Kurganov has been a winner of several American national competitions including First Prize and the Special Prize for the best performance of an unaccompanied work by J. S. Bach at the Kingsville International Competition.