Born in Ekaterinburg, Russia, Anastasia Kobekina is known for her breathtaking musicality and technique, her extraordinary versatility and infectious personality. After graduating from the Moscow Conservatory, she studied at Kronberg Academy in Germany, at Berlin College of the Arts and at the Paris Conservatory with Jerome Pernoo. She is currently completing postgraduate studies at Frankfurt College of Music and Performing Arts. With a broad repertoire, Anastasia Kobekina has established herself as one of the most exciting cellists of the younger generation.

She has already performed as soloist with world-renowned orchestras. Highlights of the 2023/24 season included concerts with the Tonhalle Orchester Zurich conducted by Paavo Järvi, the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Jakub Hrusa, the Orchester National du Capitole de Toulouse, the Gstaad Festival Orchestra, the Orchester National de Belgique and appearances at the Gstaad Menuhin Festival and Rheingau Music Festival. As a chamber musician, she regularly performs with renowned artists such as Lars Vogt, Isabelle Faust, Fazıl Say, Gidon Kremer and András Schiff. This musician has also received numerous awards, most recently the Leonard Bernstein Award from the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival 2024. Her instrument, a 1698 Stradivarius cello is on generous loan from the Stradivari Foundation Habisreutinger.

The Italian-Turkish conductor Nil Venditti has in recent years forged close relationships with many international orchestras including the Royal Northern Sinfonia and of which, from the 2024/25 season, she will be Principal Guest Conductor. Highlights of recent seasons include collaborations with the Orchestre de l’Opéra national de Paris, the Dresden Philharmonie, the Tonhalle Orchester Zurich, the Irish National Opera and the Orchestra della Toscana, where Nil Venditti held the position of Principal Guest Conductor until May 2022.

Alongside her strong affinity for the core classical repertoire of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven and in addition to her commitment as an opera conductor, Nil Venditti shows an equally strong interest in contemporary programming. Her performances in recent seasons have included works by Fazıl Say, Fabien Waksman, Lepo Sumera and Caroline Shaw in particular. This conductor also uses unusual formats to attract new audiences to classical music. In June 2022, Nil Venditti conducted the Irish National Opera’s first virtual reality community opera ›Out of the Ordinary‹ which was developed for and with people from all over Ireland and which puts communities at the centre of the opera’s creative process. Nil Venditti also made her acclaimed debut with the Deutsche Kammer­philharmonie Bremen conducting at Musikfest Bremen and returned to the orchestra’s own ›Sommer in Lesmona‹  the following year.