Alexey Zhilin was proclaimed "grandiose Russe" by the Austrian press after a historic "double" victory in Johannes Brahms Competition (2018), where he took two first prizes.
Grandiose Russe – a passionate, masterful and profound musician, representing Russian cello school in its highest degree.
It's a rare if not a unique case nowadays when a musician, who was educated solely in Russia, more than that, in one city and by one teacher, earned international acclaim.
Alexey Zhilin (born in Leningrad in 1987) is one of the last disciples of an outstanding professor from St. Petersburg – Anatolii Nikitin. Alexey won in more than fifteen international competitions, he was also the first Russian winner of XXXVIII Dr. Luis Sigall International Music Competition (Chile). He later took the second place in one of the most prestigious competitions among cellists – Isang Yun competition (South Korea), which is the best achievement of the Russian cellists during the history of the competition.
The Belgian press compared the sound of his cello to the voices of great opera singers, calling it "mesmerizing" during the first in history Queen Elizabeth International cello competition in Brussels.