ABBA

Violinist from St. Petersburg, Russia, who cut her teeth on the piano but gravitated to the fiddle at six years of age. She attended the St. Petersburg Conservatory and studied under Yakov Ryabinkov.

In 1980, she relocated to the U.S. She became a first violinist with the Houston Symphony Orchestra and joined the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1982.

On 5^th July 1991, she helped kick off the Tanglewood season by participating in the BSO’s pre-concert recital of the first movement from Gustav Mahler’s “Piano Quartet in A minor” and Schumann’s “Quartet in E flat, Op. 47”, with Emanuel Ax at the keys. The main event featured a performance of Mahler’s “Symphony No. 2” (“Resurrection”) with the Tanglewood Festival Chorus.

She and her husband, BSO cellist Jules Eskin, and pianist Tatiana Yamplosky, interpreted works of Anton Arensky, Johannes Brahms and Dmitri Shostakovich at Balsam Music Hall on 6^th April 1992.

In 1993, she went on a tour of Japan with the Boston Pops, conducted by John Williams.

She and Jules and BSO concertmaster Malcolm Lowe appeared at the Hampden-Sydney Music Festival on 25^th May 1996, where they performed the “Finale” and “Scherzo” of Antonin Dvorak’s “Piano Quintet in A, Op. 81” with violist Toby Appel and pianist Lydia Artymiw.

On 11^th August 2002, she and Jules and pianist Jonathan Bass performed music of Arensky, Brahms, Claude Debussy, Dvorak and Felix Mendelssohn at the Village School in West Stockbridge.

She and Jules did double duty on 16^th August 2002, performing in the BSO’s prelude concert, which consisted of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s “Piano Quartet No. 1 in G minor, K. 478” and Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s “Souvenir of Florence”.

In 2004, she and Jules and pianist Fredrik Wanger participated in the Passover Music Festival at Temple Sinai, where they played works by Brahms, Ernest Chausson, and Debussy.

She and Jules and violist Michael Zaretsky appeared at West Cummington Congregational Church on 2^nd September 2004.

On 10^th March 2006, the BSO were joined by mezzo-soprano Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, who performed her husband Peter’s “Neruda Songs for Mezzo-Soprano and Orchestra”. The evening was rounded out by Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Symphony No. 7 in A, Op. 92”, Elliott Carter’s “Three Illusions”, and Richard Strauss’s “Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks, Op. 28”.

Aza, Jules and Michael, along with pianist Charles Rosen, reprised Mozart’s “Piano Concerto in G minor, K. 478” in Ozawa Hall at Tanglewood on 21^st July 2006.

On 25^th August 2006, Aza, Michael, cellist Mihail Jojatu, pianist Yefim Bronfman and violinist Tamara Smirnova offered up the BSO’s pre-concert recital of Mozart’s “Piano Quartet in E flat, K. 493” and Shostakovich’s “String Quartet No. 1 in C”. The concert in the Shed featured Beethoven’s “Piano Concerto No. 1 in C, Op. 15” with pianist Imogen Cooper, Leonard Bernstein’s “Overture to Candide” and Manuel de Falla’s Three-Cornered Hat with mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard.

Roberto Abbado subbed for an ailing James Levine and conducted the BSO on 18^th March 2011 in a program that included Bela Bartok’s “Piano Concerto No. 3” with soloist Peter Serkin, Beethoven’s “Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67” and Franz Joseph Haydn’s “Symphony No. 93 in D”.

In the field of music education, she has given private lessons and worked as a coach with the New World Symphony and project STEP. Her students have included Francesca Bass and Miika Gregg.

She is also a member of the Housatonic Valley Association.

Her recordings with the Boston Pops include America, American Visions, The Celtic Album, Chris Botti in Boston, Holiday Pops, and My Favorite Things: A Richard Rodgers Celebration.

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