Alex Russell, violin
Alex Russell began studying the violin in San Diego, California, at the age of two. He first performed on national television at the age of 11, and at 15 years old won his first professional orchestral position. During his career he has been a member of orchestras throughout California and Ohio and has worked with such conductors as James Levine, John Williams, Michael Tilson Thomas, Sir Neville Marriner, James Conlon, Carl St. Clair, Sergiu Comissiona, Luis Lane, and Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos. As a soloist, Alex has performed concertos with orchestras around the country and has performed on numerous occasions on local, national, and international radio and television broadcasts; as a recording artist, he has produced six full-length albums, selling over ten thousand copies to date.
In collaboration with pianist Duane Funderburk, Alex has given duo recitals across the U.S. and in England, Australia, Singapore, and China. They have performed as soloists with chamber orchestras in seven states as well as in Sweden, Lithuania, Ukraine, Canada, South Korea, and with the Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra in Yerevan, Armenia. Alex is also very committed to teaching: he is both Director of Chamber Music and Assistant Professor of Violin at Azusa Pacific University in Southern California, and has given masterclasses around the world at music schools and conservatories, including Komitas State Conservatory in Yerevan, Armenia, and the P. Maiboroda Music School in Zaporozhye, Ukraine.
Alex has received fellowships to study at a number of music festivals, including the Tanglewood Music Festival and the Aspen Music Festival. He holds a Master's in Violin Performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he studied with Paul Kantor, and is currently pursuing a DMA in Violin Performance with Alice Schoenfeld at the University of Southern California. Alex performs on an 1865 Auguste Sebastien Philippe Bernardel violin.