Born in Moscow in 1960 Alexander Rudin is the Musica Viva Chamber Orchestra’s artistic director and chief conductor. He graduated from the Gnesin Academy of Music in 1983 (his professors in cello and piano were Lev Evgrafov and Yury Ponizovkin respectively). He was a prize-winner and laureate of prestigious cello competitions including the Bach Competition in Leipzig (1976), Gaspar Cassado Competition in Florence (1979), and the sixth and seventh Tchaikovsky competitions in Moscow (1978 and 1982). In 1989 Alexander Rudin graduated from the Moscow Conservatory in Dmitry Kitaenko’s class and with a degree in conducting.

Alexander Rudin performs worldwide and participates in festivals in Edinburgh, Istanbul, Kuhmo and Ljubljana. He was the honorary guest in the Classix Festival in Braunschweig, and has appeared as soloist with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Danish Radio Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic, Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of the Bavarian Opera, Pyotr Tchaikovsky Large Symphony Orchestra, and the Russian National Orchestra. As a conductor he performs regularly in Russia, Finland, Turkey, Poland and Norway. A creative co-operation connects Alexander Rudin with Russian composers of different generations – Kabalevsky, Tcherepnin, Denisov, Silvestrov, Golovin, Artyomov, Klimov and others.

Alexander Rudin is the Professor of the Moscow State Conservatory. He gives regular masterclasses in Europe, and since 1993 he has been the President of the ‘Musical Assemblies’ charity foundation. He has been a member of the jury of many international music competitions, including the tenth and eleventh Tchaikovsky competitions and the Bach Competition (Leipzig, 1998), and he was the chairman of the jury of the twelfth Tchaikovsky Competition in 2002.