Sergei Istomin is a cellist and a viola da gamba player. He began his violoncello studies at the age of six at the Gnessin State Musical College in Moscow, where he obtained his bachelor’s degree. He completed his master’s degree at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory. Later he undertook post- graduate studies with Catharina Meints Caldwell at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music (Oberlin, Ohio, USA) and August Wenzinger at the Oberlin Baroque Performance Institute.
In 2018 he received his ‘Doctor of Arts: Music’ degree at the University of Ghent, Belgium. The title of his doctoral thesis is “Variations on a Rococo theme, Op. 33: Pyotr Tchaikovsky and Karl Friedrich Wilhelm Fitzenhagen:
a creative collaboration. Moscow and Saint Petersburg violoncello schools in the light of European traditions: a historical and textological clarification.”
Sergei Istomin has performed solo and chamber music recitals in many European and North American Festivals. His repertoire includes baroque, classical, romantic, and contemporary music on both period and modern instruments. He has recorded for Sony Classical; Analekta, CBC (Canada); Centaur Records, Music and Arts Programs of America (USA); Passacaille Records (Belgium); and Zig-Zag Territoires (France).
Today Sergei Istomin lives in Belgium from where he continues his international career.