An interview with the Russian-born violinist who made it into our June issue’s 30 under 30.

Schubert’s works for violin and piano are less performed than perhaps they deserve. Why do you think that might be? 

I think it’s partly because they’re really difficult and quite long. And to get the form right, especially in the Fantasy, is quite challenging. Perhaps some people might not find them very effective but in our experience that is not the case. Audiences have always loved them.

The early “sonatinas” were composed before Schubert was 20 years old. Who were his influences in the form and do they feel at all immature? 

They’re quite Mozartian in a way. They don’t feel like his later works – you can hear a little Schubert maybe in the themes but generally they’re a lot simpler than the other pieces. Yeah, they’re very classical, simple sonatas.

The Fantasy in C Major was premiered in Schubert’s miraculous final year. How has his writing for the violin changed over what are really only ten years? 

The later works are technically much more virtuosic. But generally I find all Schubert’s violin parts – the trios, the octet, the quartets, the quintet – they’re always...