Mikhail Kopelman was born in Uzhgorod (former USSR) and studied with Maya Glezarova and Yuri Yankelevich at the Moscow Conservatory. He is a former member of the Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra and concertmaster of the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra; former first violinist of the Borodin String Quartet and the Tokyo String Quartet; and former faculty member, Moscow Conservatory and Yale School of Music. He has given master classes at major conservatories across Europe. He was a prize-winner in the Jacques Thibaud International Competition and a recipient of the Royal Philharmonic Society Award and the Concertgebouw Silver Medal of Honour. For over 15 years Mr. Kopelman performed and recorded with Sviatoslav Richter. He has also collaborated with Mstislav Rostropovich, Gidon Kremer, Natalia Gutman, Elisabeth Leonskaja, Alicia de Larrocha, Christoph Eschenbach, Yuri Bashmet, Victor Tretyakov, Elisso Virsaladze, Peter Donohoe, Boris Berman, and Emanuel Ax. Kopelman has made about thirty recordings for the Melodia, EMI, Virgin Classics, Teldec, Nimbus, Wigmore Live and Philips labels. In 2002 Mikhail Kopelman formed the Kopelman Quartet and in the same year was appointed a Professor of Violin at the Eastman School of Music.