Alexander Barantschik

Office

Office 608

Email abarantschik@sfcm.edu

Courses Taught

Applied Lessons

Violin Performance Class

Education

MM, St. Petersburg State Conservatory, Russia

BM, St. Petersburg State Conservatory, Russia

Ensembles

San Francisco Symphony, Concertmaster, 2001–Present

London Symphony Orchestra, Concertmaster, 1986–2001

Q&A

What is your hometown?

Saint Petersburg, Russia

What is your favorite recording?

Any recording by Heifetz.

What are you passionate about outside of music?

All kinds of sport.

Who was a major teacher you studied under?

Michael Waiman.

What was the defining moment when you decided to pursue music as a career?

Hearing Tchaikovsky's 6th Symphony for the first time.

What was a turning point in your career?

Being the concertmaster of the London Symphony Orchestra.

If you weren't a musician or teacher, what do you think you would be doing now?

Writing novels.

If you could play only two composers for the rest of your life, who would they be?

Mozart and Shostakovich.

From a music history perspective, what year and city are most important to you?

Paris, 1910–1930.

What are your most important collaborations?

Michael Tilson Thomas, Mstislav Rostropovich, and Leonard Bernstein.

What recordings can we hear you on?

R. Strauss: Ein Heldenleben, CBS Records

What is your unrealized project?

Performing all Beethoven Sonatas.