valentin berlinsky was born in irkutsk, siberia. his father had learned the violin with the famous teacher leopold auer. he had formed his own string quartet, the berlinksy quartet, who had played in many parts of the soviet union. valentin learned the violin from his father. soon he was sent to moscow where he studied the cello and played with the moscow youth orchestra. he played in a student concert together with mstislav rostropovich in 1938.