CELLO

Irina Smirnova is a Violoncellist of Russian origin. She was born in 1975 in Wladimir (Russian Federation) and already in early childhood, as of 6 years old, started to play Violoncello. Irina received her first music lessons in her hometown, at the S.I. Taneev Music School & College, where she graduated and was awarded a Diplom with distinction. Then, continued her higher academic education & String Quartett postgraduate studies at the renowned P.I.Tschajkovsky Moscow State Conservatory, under the supervision of worldwide famous Professors: class Violoncello solo with Kyrill Rodin (1st Prize winner of Tschajkovsky Competition) and class String Quartett with Alexander Galkovsky (“Schostakowitsch-Quartett”). She completed both successfully and was awarded with Diplomas. After, Irina moved to Germany and studied Chamber Music at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz in Cologne with Professors Günter Pichler, Gerhard Schulz, Valentin Erben (“Alban Berg Quartet”) and Harald Schoneweg (“Cherubini- Quartett”). She received the Certificate as a qualified Chamber Musician and Performer. Irina Smirnova took part in numerous Master classes: “ Amadeus Summer Course" at Royal Music Academy in London, with Professors Norbert Brainin, Siegmund Nissel, Martin Lovett (“ Amadeus Quartett”), Internationale Sommerakademie (ISA) of the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Wien (mdw) with Professors Günter Pichler, Erich Höbarth (“Quatuor Mosaiques”), Reiner Schmidt (“Hagen- Quartett”), Laszlo Mezö, Sandor Device (“ Bartok- Quartett”), Milan Skampa (“Smetana- Quartett”), Mstislav Rostropowitsch in Moscow, Saschko Gawriloff and “Aurin Quartett” in Montepulciano, Italy. Irina Smirnova has received two important international Scholarships, the “New Names” in Russia and the DAAD in Germany. She is a founding-member of the “Twins Quartett” (est. 1994). The Quartet was awarded many international Prices: International Franz Schubert and Contemporary Music, 2003 in Graz (Austria), D.Schostakowitsch String Quartett Competition, 2001 in Moscow (Russian Federation) and they were finalists at the Osaka- International Competition in Japan. “Twins Quartett” performed and recorded live for Radio and Television (WDR Köln in Germany, Espace-2 Radio Genf in Switzerland, TV-Channel Kultura Moscow/Russian Federation, TVChannel Kiev/ Ukraine). “Twins Quartett” has also recorded numerous CDs and have been concertising all over Europe. During the years 2005-2015 they were performing in Salzburg, Austria as the Quartett in Residence of "Salzburger Schlosskonzerte" (Schloss Mirabell in Salzburg). Irina, from 2003 until 2015 was a permanent member of the Chamber Music Ensemble "Salzburger Solisten" under the direction of Prof. Luz Leskowitz. Irina Smirnova has performed Chamber music with various musicians: Karl Leister, David Geringas, Hermann Baumann, Jorg Demus, Aleksey Lubimov, Peter Lang, Wassily Lobanov, Irina Schnittke, Luz Leskowitz, Michala Petri, Marc Grauwels, Ingemar & Andreas Brantelid, Alexey Kozlov, Mette Hanskov, Joachim Schäfer, Johannes Hinterholzer, Isabella Unterer, Sergio Zampetti, Adelheid Krause-Pichler, Aylen Pritchin, "Amati- Ensemble" and others.