Concertmaster of the San Diego Symphony Orchestra since 1986, Igor Gruppman works closely with Music Director Yoav Talmi and is a frequent soloist with the orchestra. He also has an active concert career as a soloist and member, with his wife Vesna Stefanovich-Gruppman, of the Gruppman Duo. He has appeared in performance in twenty-two countries on four continents. Gruppman was born in Kiev, Ukraine, where he began his violin studies at the age of seven. At the age of eleven he made his recital debut in Kiev Philharmonic Hall performing the Vieuxtemps Violin Concerto No.4, and at thirteen he won first prize in the National Youth Competition in Ukraine. Two years later Gruppman was awarded a scholarship for study at the Central Special Music School for Outstanding Young Musicians in Moscow, and at nineteen he went to the Moscow Conservatory to study with the great violinist Leonid Kogan, with David Oistrakh and Mstislav Rostropovich. He graduated from the Conservatory with distinction and with a Gold Medal in performance and in 1979, shortly after arriving in the United States, won the Jascha Heifetz Scholarship, which enabled him to study with the great master.

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