They studied at the Moscow Conservatory in the 1970s, but pursued individual careers for twenty-five years before founding the quartet.
Chamber music partners have included Elisabeth Leonskaja, Mischa Maisky and Julian Rachlin.
Mikhail Kopelman, first violin, (born 1947, Uzhhorod, Ukrainian SSR, USSR), a former member of the Bolshoi Theatre orchestra and concertmaster of the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, was appointed first violin of the Borodin Quartet in 1976, and remained with them for twenty years.
[5] Boris Kuschnir, second violin, (born 1948, Kyiv, Ukraine) is a professor at the Konservatorium Wien and also at the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst, Graz.
[10] Mikhail Milman, cello, studied with Natalia Gutman and Mstislav Rostropovich and was principal cellist of the Moscow Virtuosi for twenty years.