Born and raised in St. Petersburg, Russia, Mark Kashper started taking violin lessons at the age of five. In addition to being a graduate of the Moscow Conservatory, where he was one of the last and favorite pupils of the legendary David Oistrakh, Kashper also graduated from the Leningrad Conservatory. As a student, he was a recipient of numerous awards and scholarships. As the assistant concertmaster and soloist with the Moscow Conservatory Chamber Orchestra, he concertized extensively throughout the former Soviet Union, Europe, and Latin America.
Since the creation of the Los Angeles Jewish Symphony in the Spring of 1994, Kashper has also been busy as the orchestra’s Founding Concertmaster and frequent featured soloist, performing throughout Southern California and touring in New York and Israel.
When the LA Jewish Symphony was created and I started playing with this orchestra, almost the entire repertoire was new to me,” Kashper reflected in an interview in 2010. “I had never played that music, or any kind of similar music. I had heard, for example, Korngold’s “Violin Concerto,” but I never got to play it until I was with the Symphony.
Kashper has headlined many of the Symphony’s most noteworthy and acclaimed performances, including the world premieres of Russell Steinberg’s “Canopy of Peace” and Eric Zeisl’s “To The Promised Land,” and the US premieres of Tsippi Fleischer’s “Strings – Bow and Arrow” and Mariano Dugatkin’s “Klezmer Suite.”
To learn more about Mark Kashper’s journey with the Los Angeles Jewish Symphony and beyond, click the link below!