Galina Zhdanova, violin

A native of Russia, violinist Galina Zhdanova began studying the violin at the age of five.  At the age of fifteen she won the First Prize at the International Violin Competition in Tokyo, Japan.  Since then she has participated in numerous music festivals and concerts all around the world.  In 2004 Ms. Zhdanova was appointed Assistant Concertmaster of the Bayreuth Festival Youth Symphony Orchestra under conductors Peter Gulke and Joseph Schwab.  A graduate of the St. Petersburg Conservatory, where she studied with a renowned violinist Mikhail Gantvarg, she has also studied with Daniel and Todd Phillips (of the Orion Quartet) and Grigory Kalinovsky.  Ms. Zhdanova is a versatile musician, at home in worlds of classical, contemporary, and popular music.  Her performances have taken her from Bargemusic and Carnegie Hall to Madison Square Garden, the Boardwalk Theater in Atlantic City, the IZOD Arena, and television appearances on Good Morning America, The View, and the Rachel Ray Show.  Ms. Zhdanova has played with Josh Groban, Steven Tyler of Aerosmith, Sarah Brightman, David Byrne (Talking Heads), and The Trans-Siberian Orchestra. She frequently performs with the Key West Symphony and Symphony in C.   Ms. Zhdanova plays on an 18th century Italian violin.