The violinist Nicolas Chumachenco, of Russian descent, was born in Poland and brought up in Argentina. He completed his studies as a violinist in the United States with Jascha Heifetz at the University of South California and with Efrem Zimbalist at the Curtis Institute, making his European debuts with awards at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Competition and the Queen Elisabeth Competition, followed by invitations from leading conductors to appear in major works of the repertoire.

He has appeared with Wolfgang Sawallisch, Zubin Mehta, Ferdinand Leitner, Vaclav Smetaček, Peter Maag and Rudolf Kempe, among others, and collaborated regularly with Yehudi Menuhin at the Gstaad Festival. He has appeared in chamber music, notably as first violin of the Zurich Quartet, with which he has given concerts in Europe and the Americas. His recordings include the two great monuments of music for solo violin, Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas and the Caprices of Paganini. He is Professor of Violin at the Freiburg Musikhochschule, and since 1990 has served as director/soloist of the Queen Sofía Chamber Orchestra.