Boris Begelman

Violinist Boris Begelman is a leading specialist in Baroque repertory, performing on a Louis Moitessier instrument from the 1790s. He is the leader of his own ensemble, Arsenale Sonoro. Begelman was born in Moscow on September 29, 1983. He took up the violin at seven, and he attended the Moscow Conservatory, graduating in 2007. At the conservatory, he studied both modern violin with Mikhail Gotsdiner and Baroque violin with Dmitry Sinkovsky. At the time, historically oriented violin performances were not common in Russia. Begelman went on to the Bellini Conservatory in Palermo, Italy, for a Baroque violin degree, receiving magna cum laude honors after studies with Enrico Onofri on violin and Riccardo Minasi in chamber music. Begelman appeared with many of the top historical-instrument Baroque ensembles of the first two decades of the 21st century, including Accademia Bizantina, Il Pomo d'Oro, and Il Complesso Barocco, and often conducting these groups from the violin. Later, he became the concertmaster of Concerto Italiano under director Rinaldo Alessandrini. With that group, he toured the U.S. as well as Europe. Begelman formed his Arsenale Sonoro ensemble in 2014. He has given solo violin recitals and has conducted ensembles that have backed soprano Simone Kermes and countertenor Max Emanuel Cencic, the latter with Il Pomo d'Oro at the Opera de Lausanne in France. In 2018, he made his Canadian debut, guest conducting and appearing as a soloist with the Arion Baroque Orchestra in Montreal. Begelman made two recordings of violin repertory, by Telemann and Bach (the six solo violin sonatas), for the Deutsche Harmonia Mundi label. In 2018, he was featured as the concertmaster on Kermes' Mio Caro Händel with the group Amici Veneziani. In 2020, he released an album of violin sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti with Arsenale Sonoro. Begelman returned in 2021 on Naïve in that label's Vivaldi Edition series, performing Vivaldi concertos with Alessandrini and Concerto Italiano.
© James Manheim /TiVo