David Oistrakh String Quartet

The David Oistrakh Quartet is among Russia's rising chamber music ensembles. The group has recorded for the Praga Digitals and Muso labels. The David Oistrakh Quartet was founded by violinists Andrey Baranov and Sergey Ivanovich Pischugin, violist Fedor Belugin, and cellist Alexey Zhilin. Pischugin, who had been a student of Oistrakh himself, was a key mover in the quartet's formation. He was replaced by Rodion Petrov, a graduate of the Reina Sofia Music Academy in Madrid and the Moscow State Conservatory. Baranov was the 2012 first-prize winner at the Queen Elisabeth International Violin Competition in Belgium, 75 years after Oistrakh himself had won the same prize. In that year, Oistrakh's family gave the new quartet permission to use the family's name. Violist Belugin is a former member of the Shostakovich Quartet who teaches at the Moscow State Conservatory and the Gnessin Music Academy, as well as maintaining a solo viola career. Cellist Zhliin has appeared as a soloist with various ensembles in Russia and abroad; he attended the St. Petersburg State Conservatory, studied there with Anatoly Nikitin, and then joined the school's faculty. The new quartet quickly gained attention and made its debut recording, featuring quartets by Grieg and Shostakovich, on the Muso Entertainment label in 2016; two years later, the group released an album of quartets by Grieg and Mendelssohn on the same label. The David Oistrakh Quartet has appeared at many major Russian chamber music venues and abroad at Wigmore Hall in London, the Salle Pierre Boulez in Berlin, and the Philharmonie de Paris, among other top spaces. The group's list of collaborators is a long one, including pianists Martha Argerich and Nicholas Angelic, violinist Renaud Capuçon, and numerous Russian artists. The David Oistrakh Quartet has appeared at the Prague Spring Festival and has appeared in venues as far-flung as Hong Kong, Japan, and Colombia. In 2022, the quartet moved to the Praga Digitals label, releasing an album featuring Tchaikovsky's Souvenir de Florence and Schoenberg's Verklärte Nacht. The group followed that in 2023 with an album of quartets by Beethoven, Shostakovich, and Schubert.
© James Manheim /TiVo