Leonid Gorokhov

“I was bowled over when I first heard Leonid Gorokhov in a concert few months ago. With a sound reminiscent of the legendary Emanuel Feuerrmann, Gorokhov is one of those rare artists who combines a natural communicative skill with awesome technical command.”
Jeremy Nicholas, Classic FM Magazine

One of the finest cellists of his generation, Leonid Gorokhov often returns to his roots to perform in his home city of St. Petersburg. He studied at the St. Petersburg Conservatoire with Anatoli Nikitin and took part in masterclasses with Daniil Shafran. Winner of Concertino Praga (First Prize) and Paris chamber music competition (Premier Grand Prix), Leonid Gorokhov is the only Russian cellist to be awarded the Grand Prix and the First Prize of the Geneva Concours (1986). In 1995 the European Association for Encouragement of the Arts awarded the Cultural Achievement Prize to Leonid Gorokhov for “exceptional talent and outstanding artistic accomplishment”. Since 2008 Leonid Gorokhov is a Professor at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hannover, Germany.

In 1991 Leonid Gorokhov appeared as soloist with the St. Petersburg Philharmonic conducted by Lord Menuhin; their strong musical rapport led to further concerto engagements with the Berlin Philharmonic (Tchaikovsky’s Rococo) & Royal Philharmonic, Bergen Philharmonic and the Zurich Tonhalle (Lutoslavsky concerto). In 1995 he made a triumphant return to Russia in performances of the Elgar Cello Concerto with the Philharmonia Hungarica, again conducted by Lord Menuhin.

Leonid Gorokhov has been invited to play with the Basel and BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestras, Biel-Bienne and Norrkoping Symphony Orchestras; the Prague Philharmonic and the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Philharmonia Orchestra (Walton Concerto) and St.Petersburg Capella (D'Albert Cello Concerto), Enescu Philharmonic and Moscow State Symphony Orchestra.

Apart from his work as a soloist, Leonid Gorokhov plays regularly cello-piano recitals with the pianists Niklas Sivelov, Nikolai Demidenko, Kathryn Stott and Gerard Wyss. Duo concerts have included the Båstad, Belfast, Eilat Winter, Oslo Chamber Music and Petworth Festivals, Munich and Wigmore Hall. In Australia, his residence at the Townsville Festival found him playing a wide variety of chamber music; in Russia he performed "Cello Dialogs" with Alexander Rudin at the Moscow Philharmonia; at the Athens Megaron he played a cello-guitar recital with Elena Papandreou and in New York he played chamber music with Mark Peskanov. He has appeared at many prestigious festivals such as Budapest Spring, Corinthian Summer, Davos, Evian, Gstaad, Harrogate, Interlaken, Kuhmo, Ljubljana, Munich, Schleswig-Holstein and Spoleto. Leonid Gorokhov undertakes regular recital tours of Japan and has played concertos with the Thailand Philharmonic and the Macau Chamber Orchestra.

Leonid Gorokhov's recent engagements included chamber music concerts in Montepulciano Festival, Italy, masterclasses at the Bayerische Musik Akademy, Germany, cello-piano recitals in Trebon, Czech Republic and Tubingen, Germany, he performed "Seven Words" by Gubaidulina for Cello, Bayan and Strings with Elsbeth Moser and Orchester Theater for Niedersachsen and played Bach Sonatas with Zvi Meniker (harpsichord) in Hannover.

Leonid Gorokhov has made recordings of Boccherini, Debussy, Haydn, Kodaly, Martinu, Shostakovich, Tchaikovsky and Tortelier for Melodiya. For Supraphon he has recorded concertos by Martinu and Saint-Saens with the Brno Philharmonic conducted by Lord Menuhin and an album of works by Prokofiev, Shostakovich, and Stravinsky. Rarely performed gems feature on “Russian Discoveries” on the Olympia label and “Virtuoso Cello Transcriptions” on Cello Classics. Leonid Gorokhov’s first recording with Nikolai Demidenko was an all-Schubert album for the Munich based AGPL label. This was followed by a recording of Schnittke, Rachmaninov and Shostakovich Sonatas on ASV Gold.

Since 1998 Leonid Gorokhov is a British Citizen.