
LEV ATLAS
Viola
After graduating from the Rostov State Rachmaninov Conservatoire, Lev Atlas joined the Rostov String Quartet, is currently Principal Viola of the Scottish Opera Orchestra and lecturer in Strings at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. A virtuoso Klezmer and Eastern European music performer, he is a living encyclopaedia of hundreds of traditional tunes and has influenced many musicians across Europe.
Lev has enjoyed an outstanding career as a classical musician in his native Russia, then USA and now the UK. A member of the international award winning Rostov String Quartet and first prize-winner of the International Shostakovich Competition and grand prix winner of the Borodin Quartet Competition, Lev has recorded extensively with Koch Swan International in Vienna, MCA Classics in New York, BBC Radio 3, Classic FM and WCBH Boston. His solo and lead performances include Wigmore Hall, Great Hall, Moscow State Conservatoire, Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, Usher Hall, St. Petersburg Philharmonic, and Atlantic City Music Festival.
In 2013 completed his PhD and was awarded a title of Doctor in Music and Philosophy by the University of Saint Andrews and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland for his research, titled “In the Shadow of Shostakovich”.
Lev has developed a distinguished career in the World and Klezmer musical genres as a member of World Music group Koshka, which he founded in 1998 along with violinist and composer Oleg Ponomarev and Scottish Jazz guitarist Nigel Clark. Koshka has headlined various major Folk, World and Jazz festivals around the globe from Celtic Connections in Glasgow and Lake Piedmont Festival in Vermont to accepting invitations to play with orchestras such as the Nordic Chamber Orchestra in Sweden. Koshka’s unique fusion of self-composed material blends Gypsy, Jazz and Klezmer genres, played with the technical nous that can only be achieved through classical training, which has influenced a number performers on this scene.