Alexei Ogrintchouk - Biography

Alexei Ogrintchouk was supported by BBT between 2007 and 2016.  For an up-to-date biography go to Caroline Martin Musique.

Alexei Ogrintchouk is one of the most outstanding oboists of today and has been performing worldwide since the age of 13. He is winner of international awards including the prestigious Geneva competition, the BBC New Generation award and the Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award. A graduate of the Gnessin School of Music and the Paris Conservatoire where he studied with Maurice Bourgue, he combines astounding technique with virtuosity and lyricism. Alexei Ogrintchouk manages to combine orchestral playing – he has been solo oboist of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra since 2005 – with his ever-increasing solo engagements.

He has performed concertos with great orchestras including Bolshoi and Mariinsky Theatres, Suisse Romande, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Russian National Orchestra, all the Orchestras of the BBC, Royal Philharmonic, KREMERata Baltica, as well as the chamber orchestras of Auvergne, Stuttgart, Munich, UBS Verbier and Prague. In 2007 he performed the Strauss Concerto at the BBC Proms to outstanding reviews and was immediately invited back in 2008.

In December 2010 he performed the world premiere of a new concerto, commissioned by BBT, by Dalbavie with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Jiri Belohlavek. He is also much in demand as a recitalist and chamber musician and has performed with many distinguished artists including Gidon Kremer, Radu Lupu, Thomas Quasthoff, Vladimir Spivakov, Yuri Bashmet, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Maurice Bourgue, Sarah Chang, Nikolai Znaider, Julian Rachlin and Leif Ove Andsnes.

His discography includes a Schumann recital disc (Harmonia Mundi), the world premiere of the Beethoven oboe concerto (Raptus classics), music by Britten (Record One), Skalkotas (BIS) and the Mozart Oboe Concerto (PentaTone classics). A CD of Bach Concertos with the Swedish Chamber Orchestra will be released next season on the BIS label.

I am really delighted to have received the BBT award and all the support from the Trust which comes with it. The award has enabled me to commission a new oboe concerto with full symphony orchestra. This is well into the planning stages now and I’m looking forward to performing the work in the UK in a future season. The BBT has also smoothed the way for me to release a series of concerto discs with orchestra. I start recording the first of these later this year. There’s no doubt that this will provide an additional platform to further my international career and attain greater public recognition.

Photographs by Marco Borggreve