Leonarda Brustein
Leonarda Brustein was a Soviet violinist and concert performer. She was born in Moscow on 13 April 1935 into the family of geophysicist Noson Zalmanovich Brustein and Rosa Abramovna Brustein, née Markhasina.
In 1941 she entered the Central Music School, from which she graduated in 1953. Professor Abram Yampolsky became her mentor in 1943. That same year she entered the Moscow Conservatory and continued studying with Yampolsky; following his death in 1956, she joined the class of the violinist David Oistrakh. While still a student, she became a prizewinner at the All-Union Competition of Performing Musicians in 1957, and graduated from the conservatory with distinction in 1958.
From 1960 to 1998, Brustein performed as a soloist with the Moscow Philharmonic. In 1961 she joined the Art Theatre Orchestra as a soloist and concertmaster. Between 1972 and 1990, she performed first violin in the Art Theatre String Quartet, which she founded and directed, alongside second violinist Andrei Kostin, violist Gennady Sadovnik, and cellist Alexander Smirnov.
Brustein collaborated extensively with the Union of Composers and appeared in composers’ concerts with Dmitry Kabalevsky, Aram Khachaturian, Nikita Bogoslovsky, Andrei Eshpai, Dmitry Pokrass, and others. A major advocate and interpreter of contemporary music, she performed 603 works in total, gave the first performances of 338 of them, and introduced 51 works by foreign composers to Soviet audiences. Twenty-three works were dedicated to her. In chamber ensembles, including her string quartet, she performed 186 works, most of them for the first time.
She maintained an active concert career throughout her life and released several recordings of solo programmes. She was named Honoured Artist of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic in 1984 and People’s Artist of the Russian Federation in 1993.
Brustein died in Moscow on 6 March 1999 and was buried at Vostryakovskoye Cemetery. Mstislav Rostropovich praised her exceptionally beautiful and rich sound, brilliant technique, and remarkable artistry.