Alexander Nantschev has been taught to play the violin since the age of three and the piano since
the age of 9; he has taken lessons in aural training, counterpoint and harmonics since the age of
fourteen. He studied Violin and Piano at the University of Music and Visual Arts in Vienna, where
he got his diploma with distinction, and also Jazz Guitar at the Franz Schubert Conservatory in
Vienna. Nantschev worked as first-chair player for the Viennese Jeunesse Orchestra, as a solo
violinist at the Salzburg Festival, and was a member of the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra,
conducted by Pierre Boulez, Claudio Abbado, Daniel Gatti and Kent Nagano. He performed
internationally with several ensembles and also composed as well as improvised dance, film,
television, radio, and theater pieces