Principal violist Andrei Dogadin was born in Perm. He graduated from the Leningrad Conservatory in 1985 and obtained his graduate degree in 1988. Between 1986 and 1995 Mr. Dogadin was a member of the St. Petersburg String Quartet which won several prestigious music competitions in Russia, Europe, Japan and Australia. He was appointed principal viola in the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra in 1995. In addition to his professorship at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, he gives viola and chamber ensemble master classes in the United States, Germany, Republic of Korea and Peru.