Yuri Bondarev // Biography

Yuri Bondarev, born in St Petersburg, studied violin at the Hochschule für Musik “Hanns Eisler” in Berlin but then changed to viola and attended the Leipzig Musikhochschule, where he was taught by Tatiana Masurenko and gained his performance qualification.

His first experiences as an orchestral player were with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and the Vienna Philharmonic. Since 2009 he has been  co-leader of the violas with the Düsseldorfer Symphoniker.

He has performed as a soloist or chamber music player in several venues including the Vienna Musikverein, the Alte Oper Frankfurt and the Düsseldorfer Tonhalle. In the 2009/10 season he made his solo debut at the Leipzig Gewandhaus and the Sala Verdi in Milan, performing Bartók’s viola concerto under Kiril Stankow.

In the field of chamber music he has made several guest appearances with the Rimsky-Korsakov Quartet of St Petersburg, and has long been a member of the Scardanelli Quartet in Hamburg. In the course of regular travels with various instrumental groupings Yuri Bondarev has, to date, visited Italy, Austria, Slovenia, Sweden, Greece and Japan.

Yuri Bondarev gives international master-classes, teaches at the Anton Rubinstein music academy, and has just released his first CD with Etera Classics, performing with the Italian pianist Gabriele Leporatti.