Biography

Tatyana Vassiljeva was born in Novosibirsk (Russia) and began studying the cello at the age of six. After winning second prize at the ARD International Music Competition in Munich in 1994, she moved there to study at the Academy of Music with Walter Nothas. After graduating with honors, Tatjana Vassiljeva went to the Hochschule für Musik “Hanns Eisler” in Berlin to continue her studies with David Geringas.

The musical “phenomenon” Tatjana Vassiljeva is characterized by perfect technique and an incredible sonority. Tatjana Vassiljeva’s unique virtuosity is only surpassed by her musical personality and ideas, which she is able to express wonderfully. Her innate musical curiosity is reflected in her wide-ranging repertoire, which spans from baroque to contemporary music and also includes several world premieres.

Tatjana Vassiljeva began her European concert career at the age of twelve. In October 2001 she won the “First Grand Prix de la Ville de Paris” at the 7th International Rostropovitch Competition in Paris, and in 2005 she was acclaimed as “International New Discovery of the Year” at the French “Victoires de la Musique Classique”. This enabled her to lay the foundation for her international career. Since then Tatjana has established an excellent reputation as one of the leading cellists of our time.

She performs regularly with leading orchestras, including, for example, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre Nationale de France, the Orchestre de Paris, the Munich Philharmonic, the Deutsches Symphonieorchester Berlin, the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Bruckner Orchestra Linz, the Concertgebouw Orkest Amsterdam, the Saint Petersburg Philharmonic, the Mariinsky Orchestra, the Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra, the Russian National Philharmonic, the New Japan Philharmonic and the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra. She has worked with many outstanding conductors, including Claudio Abbado, Herbert Blomstedt, Yuri Temirkanov, Valery Gergiev, David Zinman, Daniele Gatti, Tugan Sokhiev, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Vladimir Spivakov, Yuri Bashmet, Dmitri Kitajenko, Mikhail Jurowski, Jiri Kout, Sakari Oramo, Christoph Eschenbach, Bertrand de Billy and Vassily Sinaisky.

The highlights of her collaboration with Mstislav Rostropovitch were a tour of Spain, concerts in Germany and Holland, and a series of concerts celebrating the anniversary of Dmitri Shostakovich in the Salle Pleyel and the Hall of the Philharmonie Luxembourg with the Оrchestre de Paris in October 2006. The following year Tatjana Vassiljeva performed the memorial concert for the great maestro.

Another close collaboration connected the cellist with Krzysztof Penderecki. Tatjana Vassiljeva played the world premiere of the revised version of the Largo under the composer’s baton and toured Spain with him in 2009. Tatjana Vassiljeva performed Penderecki’s Concerto Grosso several times, and in 2008 she recorded the second cello concerto.

As a chamber musician, Tatjana Vassiljeva has performed at international festivals, including Lockenhaus, Kronberg, Verbier, Colmar, on Elba, at the Rencontres de musique de chambre in Chambery and La Grange de Meslay, and at the Folles Journées in Nantes, Warsaw and Tokyo. She has performed with Viktor Tretiakov, Vladimir Spivakov, Yuri Bashmet, Gidon Kremer, Maxim Vengerov, Baiba Skride, Sayaka Shoji, Jean-Frédéric Neuburger, Plamena Mangova, Antoine Tamestit, Renaud and Gautier Capuçon and Paul Badura-Skoda. In 2005, she performed Beethoven’s complete works for cello and piano with the latter. With the soloists of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, she founded the Philharmonic String Quintet, with which she performs regularly in chamber music concerts in Europe and Asia.

Her first CD of chamber music by Debussy, Dutilleux, Britten and Stravinsky was released by Naxos. Subsequently, another three recordings were released by Accord/Universal. Her solo CD with works by contemporary composers (Shchedrin, Dutilleux, Saariaho, Schnittke, Stroppa and Penderecki) was awarded the “Diapason d’Or of the Year”. This was followed by another recording with works by Franck, Schubert and Stravinsky. Especially with her solo CD (Kodaly, Ysaye, Tchérepnine, Cassado) she overwhelmed the music critics, who called Tatjana Vassiljeva the “New Diva of the Cello”. She also released a critically acclaimed CD of Bach’s six cello suites on MIRARE in February 2009. She also released a critically acclaimed CD of Bach’s six cello suites on MIRARE in February 2009. Also on MIRARE, her CD of Chopin and Alkan Sonatas for Cello and Piano, recorded with Jean-Frédéric Neuburger, was released in January 2010. The recording of Penderecki’s Second Cello Concerto, released on the Naxos label in September 2011 with the Warsaw Philharmonic under Antoni Wit, won the Contemporary Music category at the 2012 International Classical Music Awards. With the Orchestre Royal de Chambre de Wallonie conducted by Augustin Dumay, she performed Haydn’s 1st & 2nd Cello Concerto, released by Mirare in 2013.

Since 2014 Tatjana Vassiljeva has been First Principal Cellist with the Concertgebouw Orkest Amsterdam and since 2023 – Professor at the Musikhochschule Karsruhe, Germany.