Ivan SKANAVI, BA M.mus.

Violoncello as a main artistic subject and artistic major
Instrumental Teaching Practice for Violoncello 1

contact: to be added soon

Ivan Skanavi brings curiosity and a strong sense of colour to the cello. Winner of the 2022
Grand Prix Emanuel Feuermann, he has performed with the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester
Berlin and the Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León under Elim Chan, and appeared at
the Verbier Festival.
His programmes range from established repertoire to rarely heard works, his own
arrangements and pieces written for him. G. Gusev’s cello concerto Silentium was
dedicated to Skanavi and performed with the Deutsches Kammerorchester Berlin. He also
gave the world premiere of his own cello arrangement of Grieg’s Violin Sonata, Op. 45,
which he has recorded.
The 2026–27 season includes Dutilleux’s „Tout un monde lountain…“ with the Slovenian
Philharmonic under Valentin Uryupin. Other engagements have taken him to the
Gewandhaus Leipzig with the MDR-Sinfonieorchester under Dennis Russell Davies, the
Kronberg and Schleswig-Holstein festivals, and Gezeitenkonzerte.
His debut album Dimensions, released by decurio, was praised in Opus Klassiek for its
range of colour and unforced phrasing. His musical background connects Moscow,
Weimar and Kronberg, where he worked with Tamara Alekseeva, Alexey Seleznev,
Alexander Rudin and Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt. Ivan's mentors include also András
Schiff, Steven Isserlis, Gary Hoffman and David Geringas.
Alongside his performing career, Skanavi holds a teaching position at mdw – University of
Music and Performing Arts Vienna.
He plays a Matteo Goffriller cello made around 1720.