On June 27, 2025, a concert featuring four string students of the Zakhar Bron School of Music – three violinists and one cellist – took place in London at St John’s Notting Hill, accompanied by the Camerata Tchaikovsky chamber orchestra under the baton of its artistic director Yuri Zhislin.
This concert marked the fourth consecutive year of artistic collaboration between the Zakhar Bron School of Music and the Camerata Tchaikovsky. The partnership began in 2022, with the first two joint concerts taking place that year.
The evening opened with the youngest participant, violinist Aron Wallerstein (8), who performed the second and third movements of Antonio Vivaldi’s Violin Concerto in A minor. Despite this being his orchestral debut, Aron delivered a confident, focused, and vividly shaped performance.
Violinist Tatiana Filimonova (13) followed with the first movement of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 3 in G major, impressing the audience with the sincerity of her interpretation and the beauty of her sound.
Next, cellist Theofania Archontopoulou (11) performed the first movement of Camille Saint-Saëns’ Cello Concerto No. 1. Her playing was marked by brilliance, expressive freedom, and a strong sense of musical character, once again winning over the audience.
The concert concluded with violinist Sophie Branson (19), who performed the second and third movements of Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 5. For this special occasion, she played on a historic Guarneri violin, generously provided by Florian Leonhard Fine Violins. The exceptional instrument revealed a rich palette of colors and contributed to a performance of remarkable depth and refinement.
Aron and Tatiana study in the violin class of Inna Khriplovich. Both are Advanced Programme students: Aron takes three 45-minute violin lessons per week with his teacher, while Tatiana has four hours of violin lessons weekly.
Theofania is an Advanced Programme cello student and has been studying in the class of Payam Taghadossi.
In addition to their violin and cello studies, Aron, Tatiana and Theofania attend music theory group classes, where they study solfège, rhythmic training, and the fundamentals of harmony, strengthening their intonation, sense of timing, and musical awareness.
Sophie is the oldest of the performers and one of the earliest ZBSM students. She joined the school in 2010 at the age of just three and a half and has been studying the violin in the class of Liana Tretiakova, the school’s founder and leading violin teacher, ever since. She is a Professional Programme student and takes three one-hour violin lessons per week.
The school would like to express its sincere gratitude to Yuri Zhislin—Artistic Director, concertmaster and conductor of the Camerata Tchaikovsky Orchestra, and Professor of Violin and Viola at the Royal College of Music in London—as well as to Natalia Lomeiko, Professor of Violin at the Royal College of Music in London, for their support in organising the concert.
Special thanks are also extended to Inna for accompanying the young musicians to London and supporting them during the concert.
Photo credit: Schlomo Aschkenasy.
Tags: Aron Wallerstein, Camerata Tchaikovsky, Inna Khriplovich, Liana Tretiakova, Payam Taghadossi, Sophie Branson, Tatjana Filimonova, Theofania Archontopoulou
Categories: Concerts with Orchestra
