Igor Zubkovsky started playing cello in his native Russia. He first appeared as a soloist with the Minsk State Philharmonic Orchestra at the age of twelve, performing the Haydn C Major Cello Concerto. Later, he studied at the Moscow Conservatory with Natalia Shakhovskaya, the Gold Medalist of the 1962 Tchaikovsky Competition.

  Mr. Zubkovsky won top prizes at international competitions, including the International Cello Competition in Minsk, Belarus (II prize), and the Tansman Competition in Lodz, Poland (Grand Prix). As a member of “The Brahms Trio” in Moscow, he won Second Prize at the Trapani, Italy and First Prize at the Weimar, Germany International Chamber Music Competitions. With a remarkable record of performances, awards and academic distinctions, Mr. Zubkovsky was awarded a full scholarship to the Peabody Conservatory of Music where he earned a Graduate Performance Diploma.

  Since 2003, Mr. Zubkovsky has been a member of the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra, and continues to perform extensively as a soloist and chamber musician.  He has appeared at Merkin Concert Hall in New York, at the prestigious Newport Music Festival, and has performed recitals in Massachusetts and at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. Live recordings of those concerts are frequently broadcast on TV and over the Internet. Recent engagements include performances of the Brahms Double Concerto with the West Chester University Orchestra and Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations with the Altoona Symphony. He has performed in a series of chamber music concerts in Paris with the Marquis Ensemble as well as performances at the Moscow Conservatory Rachmaninov Hall. Trio concerts with Anna Ouspenskaya and Elisabeth Adkins (as part of the “Levine Presents” performance series) were aired on WETA, Washington’s Classical Music Radio station. 

Mr. Zubkovsky is the author of numerous arrangements and transcriptions of duets and trios featuring the cello. He premiered the Cello Sonata by Isaac Mikhnovsky and has several CD recordings to his credit.