Born in Moscow, French violonist started to learn the violin with her father at the age of five and gave her first concert when she was seven. She later moved to Vienna to study with the famous pedagogue Boris Kuschnir and won the Eurovision Competition in 2004. She is a multi-faceted artist who is equally at home in concerto and chamber repertoire. She performed with such renowned orchestras as the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, the National Philharmonic of Russia, the Israel Philharmonic or the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony. In the UK, she was a member of BBC Radio 3’s New Generation Artist scheme 2010-12, during which time she worked with most of the BBC ensembles. As a chamber musician she has given recitals at the Auditorium du Louvre (Paris), Palais des Beaux Arts (Brussels), Wigmore Hall (London), and Toppan Hall (Tokyo). She regularly appears at international festivals. Now based in Paris, she, along with two friends, founded non-profit organisation Esperanz’Arts in 2012, a charity project aimed at creating opportunities through the arts. She plays a Giovanni Baptista Guadagnini violin made in Turin c.1785 and is known as the ‘ex-Kavakos’. Photo: Dan Carabas