Violoncello
Lena Kravets, born in Tashkent, lives in Cologne and works as a freelance musician. Since 2011, she has been the principal cellist of the Cologne Classical Ensemble and a member of the Kravets-Kassung duo and the Astor Trio, playing the violoncello.
In 2020, she founded the concert series kammerkonzerte.koeln together with guitarist Tobias Kassung, which has enriched Cologne's cultural life with performances by numerous outstanding ensembles. Since 2021, Lena Kravets has been the artistic director of 8CELLI, a cello ensemble she founded, consisting of eight outstanding cellists from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. She also works regularly with the Cologne Chamber Orchestra and the New Rhine Chamber Orchestra and participates in various chamber music projects. Since 2024, she has been part of the Duo Piano & Cello with jazz and pop pianist Max Blumentrath.
Lena Kravets grew up in a family of musicians, where rock, jazz and blues were listened to and played enthusiastically alongside classical music. At the age of six, she received her first piano lessons at the W. A. Uspenskiy Music School for gifted children. A few years later, she discovered the violoncello for herself, and her love for this instrument has shaped her artistic career ever since.
Lena Kravets grew up in a family of musicians, where classical music was listened to and played alongside rock, jazz and blues. At the age of six, she received her first piano lessons at the W. A. Uspenskiy Music School for gifted children. A few years later, she discovered the cello, and her love for this instrument has shaped her artistic career ever since.
At the age of 12, she was already principal cellist in the youth chamber orchestra ‘Young Talents from Uzbekistan,’ and a few years later, Lena Kravets was invited to perform as an orchestral musician and soloist in numerous concerts in the major concert halls of the capital Tashkent. In various orchestral projects, she demonstrated her musical talent, ambition and professionalism to such an extent that, at the age of sixteen, she was permanently employed by the orchestra of the Opera Studio at the State Conservatory of Uzbekistan and, in 2004, took up a temporary position with the Tashkent City Symphony Orchestra.
Lena Kravets studied at the Cologne University of Music with Prof. Susanne Müller-Hornbach and Laurentiu Sbarcea, where she graduated with distinction in 2014. In 2017, her debut album ‘Lieder, Songs & Canciones’ was released by the renowned Cologne label KSG Exaudio, followed in 2023 by her second album ‘La lumière du sud’ with music by Debussy, Fauré and other French masters.
