Leonid Gorokhov

Biography

London-based Russian cellist Leonid Gorokhov returns frequently to perform in his home city of St Petersburg. Current and recent engagements include appearances at the Athens' Megaron and BargeMusic New York as well as a recital tour of Japan and concerto engagements with the Thailand Philharmonic and the Croatian Radio Orchestras. His highly acclaimed duo with Nikolai Demidenko continues to meet with resounding success; in addition to numerous invitations from UK music societies, highlights to date include recitals at the Bastad & Petworth Festivals, Wigmore Hall and Munich. In 2004 he joined forces with his distinguished compatriots, violinist Sergey Levitin and violist Alexander Zemtsov, to form The Hermitage String Trio. 

Leonid Gorokhov studied at the St Petersburg Conservatoire with Anatoli Nikitin and took part in masterclasses with Daniil Shafran.  Winner of the 1986 Geneva Concours and the 1987 Paris Chamber Music Competition; in 1995 he was awarded the Cultural Achievement Prize by the European Association for Encouragement of the Arts. This award 'recognises exceptional talent and outstanding artistic accomplishment'. Now a Professor at the Royal College of Music, he was proud to be granted British Citizenship in 1998.

In 1991 he appeared as soloist with the St Petersburg Philharmonic conducted by Lord Menuhin; their strong musical rapport led to further concerto engagements with the Bergen, Berlin and Royal Philharmonic; English Symphony Orchestra; Sinfonia Varsovia and the Zurich Tonhalle. In 1995 Leonid Gorokhov made a triumphant return to Russia in performances of the Elgar Cello Concerto with the Philharmonia Hungarica, again conducted by Lord Menuhin. He continues to return regularly to St Petersburg to play with the Conservatoire and State Capella Orchestra as well as the St Petersburg Philharmonic. 

Leonid Gorokhov has been invited to appear at such prestigious festivals as Bastad, Belfast, Budapest Spring, Corinthian Summer, Davos, Evian, Gstaad, Harrogate, Interlaken, Kuhmo, Ljubljana, Macau, Perth (Scotland), Schleswig-Holstein and Spoleto. Recent concerto engagements include performances with the Basel, BBC Scottish, Berlin Radio, Biel-Bienne and Norrkoping Symphony Orchestras; Prague Philharmonic; Promusica Salzburg; the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande and the Walton Cello Concerto with The Philharmonia.  

His discography includes recordings of Boccherini, Debussy, Haydn, Kodaly, Martinu, Shostakovich, Tchaikovsky and Tortelier for Melodyia. 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. His recordings of "Russian Discoveries" for Olympia and "Virtuoso Cello Transcriptions" for Cello Classics contain some wonderful, but rarely performed, music. Leonid Gorokhov's first recording with Nikolai Demidenko was an all-Schubert album for the Munich based AGPL label. The duo's next recording, which couples Schnittke with the Rachmaninov and Shostakovich Sonatas, was released to great critical acclaim in 2004 on ASV Gold.