Born in Riga, he began studying in his hometown, going on to pursue his education with Yankelevich, Gilels and Kogan at the Moscow Conservatory aged just 14. He was awarded first prize in Helsinki’s Sibelius Competition in 1975 and first prize in the Premio Paganini and in the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1978. Since then he has played with the best orchestras in the world, conducted by Jansons, Rozhdesvensky, Nelson, Wigglesworth and Shostakovich. He has given concerts in the United States, Canada, Australia and across Europe. He lives in the Netherlands and teaches at the Amsterdam Conservatory. He plays a 1740 Guarnieri which belonged to Wieniawski.