North London Colourstrings Centre & Conservatoire , 76 St James’s Lane, N10 3RD ©  Deborah Harris 2011

Ilya Ushakov studied violin from the age of seven in the USSR.  In his mid-teens, he went to the Gnesin Music College and later studied at the Music Academy of Riga, where he qualified as a performer and teacher of violin.

Ilya feels his early experiences were not very self-disciplined or committed and he is grateful to his parents for their encouragement and variety of ways of persuading him to practise!  He was thirteen before he really began to put a lot of effort into his violin playing, realising that he did not want to give it up, as his parents suggested, but rather wanted to do it as a career.

Ilya has lived in London for many years and combines teaching with freelance work and solo performances.  He has taught at the North London Colourstrings Centre since 2004 and values highly the opportunity to combine these three aspects of musical life.

Ilya Ushakov