Alexander Kniazev enjoys a successful career in two professions – as a cellist and as an organist. He graduated from the Moscow State Conservatoire in cello (class of Alexander Fyodorchenko) and the Nizhny-Novgorod State Conservatoire in organ (class of Galina Kozlova).

Alexander Kniazev received international acclaim as a cellist when he won various international music competitions including the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, the UNISA competition in South Africa and the Cassado Competition in Florence.

As a soloist he has performed with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Bayerische Rundfunk orchestra, the Orchestre National de France, the Orchestre de Paris, the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, the NHK Symphony Orchestra, the Symphony Orchestras of Vienna, Gothenburg, Luxemburg and Ireland, the Residence Orchestra of The Hague, the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi, the Svetlanov State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia, the Tchakovsky symphony Orchestra, the Russian National Orchestra and the chamber ensembles Moscow Virtuosi and Moscow Soloists.

The musician has appeared with many renowned performers including the conductors Kurt Masur, Yevgeny Svetlanov, Mstislav Rostropovich, Yuri Temirkanov, Neeme Järvi, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Mikhail Pletnev, Yuri Bashmet, Vladimir Spivakov and Alexander Vedernikov and the instrumentalists Jean Guillou, Viktor Tretyakov, Vadim Repin, Sergei Krylov, Denis Matsuev, Augustin Dumay, Boris Berezovsky, Valery Afanasiev, Mikhail Voskresensky, Nikolai Lugansky, Yevgeny Kissin, Elisabeth Leonskaja, Edouard Oganessian and Alyona Bayeva. He has frequently appeared in a trio with Boris Berezovsky and Dmitry Makhtin and, more recently, with Nikolai Lugansky and Vadim Repin.

Alexander Kniazev’s concerts have received great critical acclaim throughout the world at such prestigious venues as the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Salle Pleyel and the Théâtre des Champs Élysées in Paris, the Palais des Beaux Arts in Brussels, Wigmore Hall and the Royal Festival Hall in London, the Mozarteum in Salzburg, the Musikverein and Konzerthaus in Vienna.

From 1995–2004 Alexander Kniazev taught at the Moscow State Conservatoire. Many of his pupils have gone on to become prize-winners at international competitions. Today, the musician frequently gives master-classes in France, Germany, Spain, South Korea and the Philippines.

Alexander Kniazev was invited to join the jury of the II International Tchaikovsky Youth Competition in Japan and the ХІ and ХІІ International Tchaikovsky Competitions in Moscow. In 2012 Alexander Kniazev headed the organ section of jury of the I All-Russian Music Competition in Kaliningrad.

As an organist, Alexander Kniazev has given many highly acclaimed concerts both in Russia and abroad, performing recitals as well as works for organ and orchestra. He has frequently performed with French organist Jean Guillou in addition to recording his Fantaisie concertante for cello and organ (dedicated to Alexander Kniazev).

Kniazev’s discography includes recordings of chamber works by Bach, Mozart, Brahms, Rachmaninoff, Shostakovich, Chopin, Franck, Ysaÿe, an anthology of works for cello by Reger, Dvořák’s Cello Concerto, Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme and Bloch’s Schelomo among other pieces. The musician’s discs have received high praise in expert ratings and have been awarded prestigious prizes including Germany’s Echo Klassik, France’s Diapason d’Or and Britain’s Gramophone Prize.

Alexander Kniazev is an Honoured Artist of Russia and a soloist with the Moscow Philharmonic.