Alexei Ogrintchouk, principal oboe

Oboist Alexei Ogrintchouk attended the Gnessin Music School in Moscow and made solo appearances in Russia, Europe and Japan at the age of thirteen. In 1995, he was admitted to the Paris conservatory, where he was awarded first prizes for oboe and chamber music. His teachers included Maurice Bourgue, Jacques Tys and Jean-Louis Capezzali. He is a winner of the Concours International d’Exécution Musicale (CIEM) in Geneva, two Victoires de la Musique, the Triumph Prize in Russia and a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award. 

In 1999, Alexei Ogrintchouk was appointed first oboist of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra. He took on the post of principal oboist of the Concertgebouworkest in August 2005.

As a soloist, Ogrintchouk has worked with the orchestras of the Mariinsky and the Bolshoy Theatres, the National Orchestra of Russia, the orchestras of the BBC (where he was named New Generation Artist in 2005), the Budapest Festival Orchestra and the Concertgebouworkest. As a chamber musician, he has collaborated with such greats as Gidon Kremer, Leif Ove Andsnes, Radu Lupu and Thomas Quasthoff.

Ogrintchouk teaches at the Royal Academy of Music in London and at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague. In 2011, he succeeded his former teacher Maurice Bourgue at the Haute École de Musique in Geneva. He also gives masterclasses at the Pablo Casals Chamber Music Academy in Prades and at the Mahler Academy in Ferrara.

In addition to an oboe from Parisian builder Marigaux, Alexei sometimes also plays the oboe d 'amore from the collection of the Foundation Concertgebouworkest. He also uses a reed cutting machine with which he can easily make his own reeds for his oboe with Swiss precision.