Alexandre Vassiliev was born in St Petersburg, and studied the violin at the Special Conservatory School of Music there, qualifying with distinction in 1973. He had already, in 1972, joined the first violin section of the Kirov Theatre Orchestra and performed in a large number of concerts at the St Petersburg Philharmonic Auditorium, the Academic Choir Auditorium and numerous other concert halls in different cities in Russia.
His career brought work under conductors of great distinction, including Mravinsky, Svetlanov, Rostropovich, Fedoseyev, Temirkanov, and Gergiev, and he has appeared as a soloist in works by Bach, Paganini, Glazunov, Tchaikovsky, Sibelius, Mozart, Mendelssohn, Vivaldi, Saint-Saëns, and Ravel. From 1980 he was a principal in the Kirov Theatre Orchestra, gaining great experience there in the symphonic repertoire of ballet and opera. In 1988, for his outstanding contribution to music, he was awarded the title of Emeritus Artist of the RSFSR (Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic), and the following year he was invited to Berlin to perform Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony under Leonard Bernstein.
He has also collaborated on many occasions with Justus Franz in concerts and in recordings. Since 1991 he has been the concertmaster of the Asturian Symphony Orchestra (OSPA), often appearing as a soloist with the orchestra in concertos ranging from Bach to Bartók. In 1998 he was invited by the Covent Garden Orchestra to be concertmaster and soloist, performing under the directions of Bernard Haitink and Gennady Rozhdestvensky, and in 1999 by the Metropolitan Opera in New York.
