Researching Boris Kamensky

Born in Nikolaev, Ukraine, son of a Director of a Commercial Bank, Kamensky made his first appearance in concerts at the age of nine. He was noticed as a talented violinist by Eugène Ysaÿe and he started taking lessons with him. He went on to study at the Saint Petersburg State Conservatory (now the Rimsky-Korsakov Saint Petersburg State Conservatory) with Leopold Auer, and he had ensemble classes with Anton Rubinstein; and then he studied with Joseph Joachim in Berlin.

Kamensky was appointed as Concertmaster in the orchestra of the St Petersburg Imperial Russian Musical Society and he became first violin of Tzar Nicholas II. He was one of the founding members of the St Petersburg String Quartet, which was maintained by Helena Pavlovna’s grandson, Duke George Mecklenburg-Strelitz, whilst appearing as soloist at the concerts of the Russian Musical Society in various cities in Russia. The Quartet played old Italian instruments made by the Guarneri family which had taken years for the Duke to find. Despite the exceptional qualities of the instruments, it took over 500 rehearsals before the artists successfully achieved exactly the right equilibrium of tone. The Quartet initially played at the Duke’s palace, where only select society was able to attend. The Duke was encouraged to let the Quartet give public concerts and as a result, it made its début in 1897 in St Petersburg. The Quartet became very famous in Russia and then started touring around Europe.

Kamensky married Maria Apakidze and they had a daughter, Irina in 1907. He was so passionate about his violin that on the eve of the Russian Revolution, when he was forced to leave the country and faced with the choice between taking his wife or his violin, he chose his Stradivarius. He fled to Paris and became a Professor at the Russian Conservatory (now the Rachmaninov Conservatory) and he gave private lessons (pupils included Michèle Auclair, Hansheinz Schneeberger, Nejiko Suwa and Jean Fournier). He subsequently married Ksenia Vladimirovna. Kamensky is buried at the Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois Russian Cemetery in Paris.