Ivan Evstafeivich Khandoshkin was a Russian composer and violinist. A student of Tito Porta, he was the finest 18th-century Russian violinist. He was a musician at the Russian Court from 1765 and taught violin at the Academy of Fine Arts; he later became Kapellmeister. He was on Knipper's Free Theatre, St Petersburg, in 1783, and Potyomkin was invited to become director of his proposed music academy in Yekaterinoslav in 1785. This endeavor collapsed, and Khandoshkin returned to St Petersburg in 1789, where he lived until his death. Khandoshkin wrote many collections of variants on Russian folk tunes, in addition to three unaccompanied violin sonatas modeled on Bach's works, which demonstrate his remarkable virtuosity. It is now believed that the viola concerto, written in 1947 and credited to Khandoshkin, is bogus.