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Hailed as “a brilliant cellist” by the legendary Mstislav Rostropovich, Sergey Antonov went on to prove his mentor’s proclamation when in 2007 he became one of the youngest cellists awarded the gold medal at the world’s premier musical Olympiad, the quadrennial Interna-tional Tchaikovsky Competition.
Antonov’s entry into this elite stratum of sought-after classical artists has already placed him on stages at world-renowned venues from Russia’s Great Hall at the Moscow Conserva-tory to Suntory Hall in Tokyo.
His international performance tours have taken him to most European countries, Asia, Canada and the United Arab Emirates. He has collaborated with such conductors and artists as Maxim Vengerov, David Geringas, Michiyoshi Inoue, Mikhail Pletnev, Christian Arm-ing, Dora Schwartzberg, Livia Sohn, Vadim Rudenko, Bernadene Blaha, Kevin Fitz-Gerald, John Lenehan, Maxim Mogilevsky, Misha Keylin among many others.
Closer to home, Antonov has been a favored guest artist with the Newport Music Festival, where he made his American debut, four years ago.
Born in Moscow, Russia, to a musical family, Antonov began his cello studies at the age of five at the Central Music School of the Moscow Conservatory, initially under the tutelage of his mother, Maria Zhuravleva, and went on to graduate from Moscow Conservatory hav-ing studied with Natalia Shakhovskaya, and chamber music with Alexander Bonduryansky. Sergey has also worked with Grammy nominated cellist Terry King at the Longy School of Music from where he holds an Artist Diploma Degree.
It was during Antonov’s conservatory years that his abilities were recognized by Rostropo-vich, who had frequently taught master classes to gifted and highly advanced pupils. The celebrated cellist was so impressed with Antonov’s talent; he invited the young student to perform with him during a tour of Europe and Russia.
In addition to being the 2007 Tchaikovsky gold medal winner for cello, Antonov has been a recipient of the 2008 Golden Talent Award by the Russian Performing Arts Foundation, as well as garnering top soloist honors in the International Justus Friedrich Dotzauer Com-petition, Dresden, Germany, the David Popper International Cello Competition, Budapest, Hungary, and the American String Teachers Association Competition, Detroit Michigan. His chamber ensemble performances have also brought him honors from the Lyrica Chamber Music Series as their “Young Artist of the Year”, the Chamber Music Foundation of New England and the Swedish International Duo Competition.
Antonov’s repertoire embraces the full spectrum of cello concerti, soloist works and cham-ber music; everything from Prokofiev-and Bach to Schnitke and Handel. In 2009 the Moscow Philharmony management has commissioned a concerto to be written especially for Sergey by a Russian composer Andrey Mikita on the themes of the ballet “Romeo and Juliet” by Tchaikovsky. Last season Antonov performed the concerto in Russia with the Moscow Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, Ekaterinburg Symphony Orchestra as well as Lithuania National Orchestra in Vilnus , Lithuania, to great acclaim.
In 2011-2012 season Sergey has appeared as soloist with Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo under the direction of Yan Pascal Tortelier in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and will perform with Nashua Symphony Orchestra, Jonathan McPhee conducting, Greensboro Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Dmitry Sitkovetsky, Faifax Symphony Orchestra with Chris-tian Zimmerman, Osaka Phillharmony Orchestra, Oue Eiji, music director as well as numer-ous concert with the Moscow Philharmonic in Russia.
He continues to give recitals through the US, Europe and Japan with his pianist Ilya Kazant-sev where the duo is scheduled to record their first CD under the ALM recording label. As a chamber musician Sergey is a member of Hermitage Piano Trio, a group of renowned solo-ists: pianist Maxim Mogilevsky and violinist Misha Keylin. Mr. Antonov has performed live in concert on Boston’s NPR radio station WGBH, and his performance with the Moscow Philharmonic in their “Stars of the 21st Century” series has been broadcast on Russian National Television Sergey lives in Boston, Massachusetts with his wife son Noah.
“A brilliant cellist!” — Mstislav Rostropovich “.an incredibly warm, penetrating and vibrant tone. a romantic musical sensibility to cre-ate music-making of a high caliber.” — Kevin Shopland, The Budapest Sun “.a world of expression from plaintive hope to existential pathos.” — Holly Harris,Winnipeg Free Press“.a performance with soaring phrases and a tone to die for.” — Channing Gray,Journal Arts, Providence, RI“.at 26, Antonov’s Reno debut is nothing less than sensational.” — Jack Neal, Nevada Events and Reviews“Antonov’s exceptionally centered, beautiful, and focused sound is undeniably fetching, and his musical intentions are invariably clearly defined. He calls on the dark power of the lower reaches of his (unfortunately unnamed) instrument to splendid effect and does so with subtle variations of color and horsepower, not to mention the supreme ease with which he entices tone of from all of this lovely cello’s regions.” —Christopher Greenleaf, Boston Musi-cal Intelligencer, July 19, 2011

Source: http://www.cmfone.org/sergeyantonov/images/full_biography_antonov.pdf