Nicolás Chumachenco
The violinist Nicolás Chumachenco, of Russian descent, was born in Poland and brought up in Argentina. He completed his studies as a violinist in the United States with the legendary Jascha Heifetz at the University of South California and with Efrem Zimbalist at the Curtis Institute. He went on to make his European débuts with awards at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Competition and the Brussels Queen Elisabeth.
He has appeared with Wolfgang Sawallisch, Zubin Mehta, Ferdinand Leitner, Vaclav Smetaček, Peter Maag and Rudolf Kempe, among others, and collaborated regularly with Yehudi Menuhin at the Gstaad Festival. He has also performed chamber music, notably as first violin of the Zurich Quartet, with which he has given concerts in Europe and the Americas. Chumachenco is Professor of Violin at the Freiburg Musikhochschule, and since 1990 has served as director/soloist of the Queen Sofía Chamber Orchestra.