Veronika String Quartet launched itself into the international arena early on, taking top prizes at the Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition, Shostakovich International String Quartet Competition, and Yellow Springs Chamber Music Competition. Since then, this foursome has appeared in important halls in Moscow, St. Petersburg, London, Madrid, Jerusalem, New York, Chicago, and in Germany, France, and the Netherlands, as well as throughout the United States. The Veronika String Quartet has been heard abroad at the festivals of Evian, Lucerne, and Aldeburgh, and in prestigious North American venues of Ravinia, Music Mountain and Roundtop. Noteworthy collaborations have included those with members of the Amadeus, American and Fine Arts quartets, and with guest artists Ruth Laredo, Richard Stolzman, and Lawrence Leighton Smith.

The Veronika String Quartet is firmly established in the Russian lineage, and its members represent training from the Gnessin Academy of Music and the Moscow State Conservatory. The quartet counts Valentin Berlinsky, formerly of the Borodin Quartet, and Henry Meyer, formerly of the LaSalle Quartet, as its primary influences, and it has created a unique bridge between its rich heritage and the western tradition through studies under Isaac Stern, Natalia Gutman, and members of the Guarneri, Ysaye, Cleveland, and Tokyo quartets.

The Veronika String Quartet is widely acclaimed for the purity of its interpretations of the Russian masterworks, from Tchaikovsky to Shostakovich, Schnittke, and beyond. Its performances of the complete canon of the quartet repertory, coupled with its devotion to the modernist idiom, have resulted in a discography of nine recordings on Carlton Classics and Vienna Modern Masters, featuring an impressive array of works ranging from W.A. Mozart to Augusta Read Thomas.

The Veronika String Quartet continues to endear itself to audiences and music lovers in Ohio and Colorado, where it is a vital agent in the invigoration of the arts. By recording and broadcasting for Colorado Public Radio and by presenting thematically adventurous concert series in both Colorado Springs and Pueblo, these veteran performers have single-handedly revitalized the chamber music scene in the region. The Veronika String Quartet has held artistic posts at Colorado State University and at Ohio’s Lancaster Music Festival, where it currently performs as quartet-in-residence. Musicians of the group were thrilled to start a performance residency at the Colorado College in the fall of 2019. The quartet’s commitment to the applied training of emerging young musicians is well-known, and the quartet’s idealism and its ambassadorship for music prompted the Colorado Springs Gazette to remark, “The Veronika String Quartet shared an insight into the human condition that is strictly the domain of great art and music.”

The members of the Veronika String Quartet are Veronika Afanassieva, Karine Garibova and Ekaterina Dobrotvorskaia. Cellist Igor Zubkovsky of the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra has accepted a one-year position with the group for the upcoming season.