Anastasia Kobekina

Anastasia Kobekina, the cellist, earned significant awards that include her placing at the International Tchaikovsky Competition, performed with leading orchestras across many countries, and entered an exclusive contract with Sony Classical.

She entered the world on August 26, 1994, in Yekaterinburg, Russia, as the daughter of composer Vladimir Kobekin; music surrounded the household from the start, prompting her to begin cello studies at age four. Admitted in 2006 to the Moscow Conservatory, she trained under Olga Galochkina and soon gained notice through international competitions, among them the Vienna Eurovision Young Musicians Competition of 2008. Following a master class led by David Geringas, a former student of Mstislav Rostropovich, she received the Landgrave of Hesse Prize in Kronberg, Germany, during 2010. Two years later she joined the Kronberg Academy for lessons with Frans Helmerson. In 2016 her path took her to the Universität der Künste Berlin, where Jens Peter Maintz guided her studies; she then moved on to the Conservatoire de Paris (CNSMDP) to work with Jérôme Pernoo and to the Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst Frankfurt am Main for instruction from Kristin von der Goltz. Into the mid-2020s she maintained her work with both Pernoo and von der Goltz.

Kobekina first appeared on disc in 2014, featured alongside other emerging cellists on the Profil release Focus Cello. Later in the decade she issued several digital albums with her father on independent labels. Her debut as a soloist on a major imprint arrived in 2019 on Claves, where she joined the Bern Symphony Orchestra under Kevin John Edusei for a program of pieces by Shostakovich, Weinberg, and Kobekin.

A decisive advance came in 2019 when she captured third prize at the 16th International Tchaikovsky Competition held in Russia. Between 2018 and 2021 she held the post of BBC New Generation Artist. Although still completing her formal training, she performed with prominent ensembles that include the Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Wiener Symphoniker, BBC Philharmonic, and Kremerata Baltica. During the 2023-2024 season her schedule featured appearances at Switzerland’s Gstaad Menuhin Festival, Germany’s Rheingau Music Festival, and the Dvořák Prague International Music Festival in the Czech Republic. The recital album Ellipses appeared on Mirare in 2023, followed in 2024 by Venice on Sony Classical; that same year she received the Leonard Bernstein Award at Germany’s Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival.