January 1, 2025
Meet the Musicians
Leonid Plashinov-Johnson
Viola
Viola
Leonid Plashinov-Johnson joined the San Francisco Symphony viola section at the beginning of the 2022–23 season. Previously a member of the St. Louis Symphony, he is a laureate of multiple competitions, most recently the Primrose International Viola Competition, and has participated in the Yellow Barn, Ravinia, and AIMS festivals. Born in Siberia, he graduated from New England Conservatory, where he won the concerto competition.
What are your memories of being a child in Siberia?
I was born in a city called Tyumen. It’s two time zones east of Moscow and north of Kazakhstan. It’s a pretty big city now, home to over 800,000 people. I remember the winters were obviously very cold—we got down to the minus 30s, however the summers sometimes reached triple digits. There’s also a different dimensional scale of space, nature, and wilderness that I haven’t seen elsewhere. My mother and I left for the UK when I was six, but my father’s whole side of the family is still there so I used to enjoy visiting.
What was your path from there?
In the UK, I spent the ages of 10–18 at the Yehudi Menuhin School. It’s a very small school of around 70 string and piano students, ages of 8–18, of all nationalities. It was not only transformative to me as a young musician, but as a boarding school, it also taught me to live away from home from a young age. I studied the violin there with Lutsia Ibragimova, who was also Russian and had even lived in Yekaterinburg, the city nearest to my hometown. After switching to viola, I learnt from Andriy Viytovych, who was at the time the principal violist of the Royal Opera House. I then moved to the USA in 2015 to study at the New England Conservatory under Kim Kashkashian. These three teachers had a tremendous impact on me.
How did you begin playing viola?
I was born in Siberia and started playing violin at the age of three, then moved to London at age six. When I was at the Yehudi Menuhin School around 13 or 14 years old, there were no dedicated viola players, so I was one of the students they picked to do double duty on viola in chamber music or string orchestra settings, maybe because I have larger hands. Over time, I enjoyed my life with the viola a bit more.
Story continues below...
What are your memories of being a child in Siberia?
I was born in a city called Tyumen. It’s two time zones east of Moscow and north of Kazakhstan. It’s a pretty big city now, home to over 800,000 people. I remember the winters were obviously very cold—we got down to the minus 30s, however the summers sometimes reached triple digits. There’s also a different dimensional scale of space, nature, and wilderness that I haven’t seen elsewhere. My mother and I left for the UK when I was six, but my father’s whole side of the family is still there so I used to enjoy visiting.
What was your path from there?
In the UK, I spent the ages of 10–18 at the Yehudi Menuhin School. It’s a very small school of around 70 string and piano students, ages of 8–18, of all nationalities. It was not only transformative to me as a young musician, but as a boarding school, it also taught me to live away from home from a young age. I studied the violin there with Lutsia Ibragimova, who was also Russian and had even lived in Yekaterinburg, the city nearest to my hometown. After switching to viola, I learnt from Andriy Viytovych, who was at the time the principal violist of the Royal Opera House. I then moved to the USA in 2015 to study at the New England Conservatory under Kim Kashkashian. These three teachers had a tremendous impact on me.
How did you begin playing viola?
I was born in Siberia and started playing violin at the age of three, then moved to London at age six. When I was at the Yehudi Menuhin School around 13 or 14 years old, there were no dedicated viola players, so I was one of the students they picked to do double duty on viola in chamber music or string orchestra settings, maybe because I have larger hands. Over time, I enjoyed my life with the viola a bit more.
Story continues below...
Did something in particular convince you to switch to viola?
I was about 17 when I made the switch. I was put in a really good chamber group playing the Schubert C-major Cello Quintet, and they gave me a really beautiful instrument, Menuhin’s own Testore viola, to play for the year. And I had such a great time playing that piece, on that instrument, with those people. By the end of the year, I had gotten enough feedback about my life as a violist, as well as my own experience of it, to switch fulltime.
What were your next steps out of school?
I played in the St. Louis Symphony before coming to San Francisco. I still spend a lot of time trying to understand how to play my instrument better and perhaps more in an exploratory way than before. When you transition out of school to not having a teacher, there’s this unfamiliar responsibility that your future is in your own hands, so you have to think about what you want that to look like, and actively shape the kind of musician you want to be.
Do you remember your first concert with the SF Symphony?
It was Star Wars: A New Hope with live orchestra, and it was such a fun concert to play. I’m a big Star Wars fan and especially love those glorious scores by John Williams, so to do that as one of the first things was really special. My first month here was full steam ahead—Also sprach Zarathustra, Mahler Symphony No. 2, The Firebird, Symphonie fantastique, Bartók Concerto for Orchestra. . .
What do you find special about a live orchestra?
It’s so rare these days to hear music or sound that is not coming out of a speaker and not processed through something. It’s kind of wild that on stage we have 100 people playing instruments that were handcrafted as a result of hundreds of years of development, and we are literally creating those sound waves that are hitting your ears. So you feel more connected to every sound and note—and on a bigger scale, every movement, gesture and intention—experiencing it as the real living thing rather than a representation. I also love non-classical music—I think all music can be incredibly expressive, whether it’s jazz or metal (and I love both). But even that, it’s going through a speaker system, and though you’re getting the result of something happening in front of you, it’s not the same thing that happens from purely acoustic instruments.
What are your hobbies outside of music?
I have always loved cars, so I cherish every drive I get in my red Mazda Miata! I also enjoy keeping up with Formula 1 and Sports Car/Endurance racing. I managed to complete a bucket-list item recently and went to France to watch the 24 Hours of Le Mans Race. It was quite the experience, and I was wearing ear protection, so I’m okay! I enjoy good books as well. I’ve recently been reading Daemon Voices, a collection of essays about stories and storytelling by Philip Pullman. I love how he really brings storytelling and music making together in an interesting and refreshing way. We hear all the time from musicians about how music is telling a story, but I don’t often hear a writer talking about stories as if they’re music.
I was about 17 when I made the switch. I was put in a really good chamber group playing the Schubert C-major Cello Quintet, and they gave me a really beautiful instrument, Menuhin’s own Testore viola, to play for the year. And I had such a great time playing that piece, on that instrument, with those people. By the end of the year, I had gotten enough feedback about my life as a violist, as well as my own experience of it, to switch fulltime.
What were your next steps out of school?
I played in the St. Louis Symphony before coming to San Francisco. I still spend a lot of time trying to understand how to play my instrument better and perhaps more in an exploratory way than before. When you transition out of school to not having a teacher, there’s this unfamiliar responsibility that your future is in your own hands, so you have to think about what you want that to look like, and actively shape the kind of musician you want to be.
Do you remember your first concert with the SF Symphony?
It was Star Wars: A New Hope with live orchestra, and it was such a fun concert to play. I’m a big Star Wars fan and especially love those glorious scores by John Williams, so to do that as one of the first things was really special. My first month here was full steam ahead—Also sprach Zarathustra, Mahler Symphony No. 2, The Firebird, Symphonie fantastique, Bartók Concerto for Orchestra. . .
What do you find special about a live orchestra?
It’s so rare these days to hear music or sound that is not coming out of a speaker and not processed through something. It’s kind of wild that on stage we have 100 people playing instruments that were handcrafted as a result of hundreds of years of development, and we are literally creating those sound waves that are hitting your ears. So you feel more connected to every sound and note—and on a bigger scale, every movement, gesture and intention—experiencing it as the real living thing rather than a representation. I also love non-classical music—I think all music can be incredibly expressive, whether it’s jazz or metal (and I love both). But even that, it’s going through a speaker system, and though you’re getting the result of something happening in front of you, it’s not the same thing that happens from purely acoustic instruments.
What are your hobbies outside of music?
I have always loved cars, so I cherish every drive I get in my red Mazda Miata! I also enjoy keeping up with Formula 1 and Sports Car/Endurance racing. I managed to complete a bucket-list item recently and went to France to watch the 24 Hours of Le Mans Race. It was quite the experience, and I was wearing ear protection, so I’m okay! I enjoy good books as well. I’ve recently been reading Daemon Voices, a collection of essays about stories and storytelling by Philip Pullman. I love how he really brings storytelling and music making together in an interesting and refreshing way. We hear all the time from musicians about how music is telling a story, but I don’t often hear a writer talking about stories as if they’re music.
