He is a violinist born in Leningrad, Russia who studied at the Leningrad Conservatory.
He was a member of the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra under the conductorship of Evgeny Mravinsky and performed with them for two decades as a violinist and as Assistant Concertmaster for three years of his time there. At the same time he performed with a quartet of the orchestra’s members. He was removed from the orchestra by the government as he had applied to emigrate.
In 1979 he settled in the United States and became Assistant Principal of the second violin section of Chicago Symphony Orchestra during the tenure of Sir Georg Solti. He retired from the CSO in 2012.
He co-founded the ensembles Chicago Pro Musica, all members of the CSO, and New Russian Trio and recorded and toured nationally and internationally with them.
Active in the recording studio he became a Grammy Award winner as Best New Classical Artist with Chicago Pro Musica in 1986. Albums he can be heard on include Brahms: Violin Concerto/Sonata No. 3, Corigiliano: Symphony No.1 and Wagner: Overtures and Preludes by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and The Medinah Sessions and Stravinsky/Rimsky-Korsakov by Chicago Pro Musica,
In the field of musical education he has taught several successful violinists.
Sources:
- https://chicagoclassicalreview.com/2012/06/muti-ends-cso-season-with-impromptu-tribute-to-retiring-violinist/
- https://www.facebook.com/krug4us/posts/albert-igolnikov-came-to-the-chicago-symphony-orchestra-in-1979-from-the-soviet-/1278152548970746/
- https://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/ct-xpm-2012-04-22-chi-cso-russia-6-20120422-story.html
- https://www.nytimes.com/1987/05/23/arts/music-chicago-pro-musica.html
- https://www.discogs.com/artist/3704372-Albert-Igolnikov