Leonid Surkov

Leonid Surkov was born in the Russian capital Moscow. Since 2014, he studied at the Gnessin Music College in Moscow with Prof. Denis Osver and later moved to Berlin to continue his studies at the Berlin University of the Arts in the class of Prof. Washington Barella. Leonid received additional musical inspiration in masterclasses with Heinz Holliger, Ingo Goritzki, and Alexei Ogrintchouk.

Leonid is a prizewinner of several international competitions; among others, he is a first prize winner of the ARD International Music Competition and The Muri Competition, and a third prize winner of the 13th International Oboe Competition of Japan. In 2024, he received the Bruno Frey Prize of the State Music Academy of Baden-Württemberg and has also been a scholarship holder of the Yehudi Menuhin Live Music Now Berlin e.V. association since 2021 as a member of the JuVentus Wind Quintet.

As a soloist, Leonid has performed with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, Ensemble Kobe, Collegium Musicum Basel, CHAARTS, Musikkollegium Winterthur, and the Novosibirsk Symphony Orchestra, among others, appearing in venues such as the main hall of the Berlin Philharmonie, the Stadtcasino Basel, and the Herkulessaal in Munich. As a chamber musician, Surkov has been a guest at the Davos Festival, the Ludwigsburg Festival, Swiss Chamber Concerts, the Ticino Musica Festival, the Neuschwanstein Festival, and the Crescendo Festival.

Since September 2024, Leonid has been principal oboist of the Musikkollegium Winterthur, Switzerland, and regularly performs as a guest musician with the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra and the orchestra of the Komische Oper Berlin, the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra Hamburg, and the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich.

Leonid is also active in the field of music education: from September 2026, he will take up a professorship for oboe at the Music Academy Basel and gives masterclasses in Germany, Spain, and Russia.