By Camille Kelly | Reporter
From performing professionally around the world to winning countless awards for violin pieces, the legacy of Patricia Shih, Nikita Pogrebnoy and their son Nicholas is one of adventure and accolades, taking them all across Europe, Asia and North America and eventually landing them in Waco.
After about 25 years of traveling the world with the Borealis String Quartet, the Pogrebnoy family decided to make their home in Waco, ultimately drawn here by their love for the university.
Shih is an associate professor of violin, Pogrebnoy is a part-time lecturer in instrumental studies and Nicholas himself is in his freshman year as a violin performance major, all at Baylor.
As much as they love performing, both Pogrebnoy and Shih said they get the most fulfillment from sharing the love of music with their students.
“One can say that the line between performing and teaching is not such an obvious one to discover,” Pogrebnoy said.
According to Shih, being a part of the Baylor community is what has made Waco feel like home to them.
“Having the opportunity to work with so many great students, to know that each one is so special — I would say it’s very individual,” Shih said. “When you see great artists in any kind of form, whether it’s a hairdresser, whether it’s a painter, a great sculpture — they all have their unique personalities that are strong, and that’s what makes it so special and so valuable. I want each of my students to bring out the best of themselves, rather than to be a replica of something else.”
This past fall, Nicholas won the 2026 Semper Pro Musica Competition at Baylor with his solo of “Carmen Fantasie,” which he will perform on May 21 at Carnegie Hall.
“I would say that it is incredibly special that I get to play in such an iconic place for a New York audience, which is very much different than what I usually play for,” Nicholas said. “I am very honored that Baylor offers this opportunity.”
Before he came to Baylor, Nicholas traveled the world with his parents as they performed with the Borealis String Quartet. Just like their son, both Shih and Pogrebnoy have been playing the violin from a young age. Shih made her Carnegie Hall debut as a soloist with an orchestra at 15, just three years ahead of Nicholas, who is 18.
Award-winning and acclaimed musicians Shih and Pogrebnoy began their professional careers as the violinist and violist when they co-founded the Borealis String Quartet in 2000. With the music group, both performed at the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver, Canada.
From there, touring with the quartet became their full-time careers, and their relationship “turned into something more than just quartet partners,” Shih said.
Their son Nicholas joined them on tour at just 3 months old.
“I was also told that I was quite a good audience member for being a few months old,” Nicholas said. “All that childhood has really impacted me, and I hope that I can use all the experiences I’ve gained from my childhood in terms of musical insight and to better express it in the future.”
For his entire life, Nicholas has grown up surrounded by music. According to Shih, Nicholas has a passion for it that is all his own.
“In a way, you can say he had no choice, because he was born into it, but at the same time, we never pushed him into it,” Shih said. “It was something he wanted to do.”
Nicholas has often been the youngest in the room: the youngest finalist, the youngest to medal and the youngest to audition for the Waco Symphony Orchestra. For all of these experiences, Nicholas said he is extremely honored, although he knows it is only temporary.
“There will be a time when I am the oldest person in the room,” Nicholas said. “But it’s been a very nice to be part of the journey of expressing music. That’s the way I see it.”
By placing in the international violinist competition in Taiwan, Nicholas and his family became acquainted with the composer, who arranged a piece specifically for him that premiered in the orchestra in Vancouver, Canada, earlier this month.
Because Nicholas was competing at the Baylor competition at the time, he did not get to participate, but he will be premiering the same piece on Baylor’s campus on March 24 at Roxy Grove Hall.
Now settled in Waco, a full house of musicians always practicing can be an earful. According to Shih, different styles of classical music played simultaneously usually create a lot of noise, but rehearsing a work that the family is playing together is fun. Shih also said their two cats seem to appreciate music the way they do.
According to Pogrebnoy, sharing a passion as a family is so rewarding.
“It’s also interesting that we share one common instrument between us, which is a violin,” Pogrebnoy said. “It makes it sort of like a continuous learning experience, not just for Nicholas, but for all of us.”
Nicholas said he loves music not only for its ability to convey emotion, but to express even greater emotions beyond human ones.
“The violin is so versatile,” Nicholas said. “I can think through it and communicate to my audiences in so many different ways, with so many emotions: love, passion, empathy, sadness, hope and there’s just so much to say, there’s never enough.”
