Mikhail Kovalkov graduated from Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory and then continued his postgraduate studies with Professor Yuri Tkanov. He has won awards in many national and international viola competitions including the 1st prize at the 11th International Togliatti competition, the 3rd prize at the international viola-player competition named by Y. Bashmet where he also received 2 special prizes “Best performance of compulsory work (Elegy by Stravinsky)” and “Best Interpretation of Brahms works”.
As a member of “Estrelli-trio” he has won the 1st prize in the Chamber Music competition in Italy. Mikhail received the 1st prize at the 2nd international competition named by N. Rubinstein. He has performed in many solo and chamber music concerts all over the world including France, USA, Switzerland, Czech, Finland, Tunisia, Turkey, Sweden and Spain. He appeared as a soloist with such renown orchestras as the Svetlanov State Symphony Orchestra (under Maestro S. Kochanovsky) and Moscow State Chamber orchestra (under Maestro Nikolaev).
Mikhail is a grant recipient of the “Russian Performing Art” foundation. In 2015, at age 31, he won the position of the viola section concertmaster at the Bolshoi Theater and became one of the youngest concertmasters in the history of this worldwide renowned Opera House.
Mikhail plays a viola by Storioni, kindly on loan to him from the State collection of unique instruments in Russia.
Mikhail is performing at Les Musicales de Baabdath on October 31. Check the program here.
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