Belarusian Cellist Aleksandr Khramouchin has Died, Aged 43

A prizewinner at the 2002 Tchaikovsky Competition, Khramouchin became the principal cellist of the Luxembourg Philharmonic aged just 19

The Belarusian cellist Aleksandr Khramouchin, who spent twenty years as the principal cellist of the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, has tragically passed away at the age of 43.

Born in Minsk in 1979 into a musical family, Khramouchin received his first cello lessons from his father, who was a prominent violinist. He entered the Minsk Conservatory's Special School at just six years old, where he studied for years with Vladimir Perlin.

In 1992, Khramouchin arrived in Belgium, where he continued his studies with Hans Mannes at the Royal Conservatory of Antwerp. During this time, he also came into contact with luminaries such as Janos Starker, Natalia Schakhovskaya, and Boris Pergamenschikow.

At the age of 19, Khramouchin won the principal cello job in Luxembourg, where he was to stay until 2019 — constituting two decades of service.

A finalist at the 2002 Tchaikovsky Competition, his chamber music partners included Emmanuel Ax, Christian Ivaldi, Vladimir Sverdlov, Polina Leshenko, Sofja Gülbadamova, Denis Goldfeld, Alexandra Soumm, Priya Mitchell, Alissa Margulis, and Jack Liebeck, and he was a member of the Aviv Quartet between 2010 and 2015.

Over the course of his career, Kharmouchin made several distinguished recordings on Timpani Records — including the complete chamber music of Gabriel Pierné.

Khramouchin is survived by his wife, the pianist Eliane Reyes, and their one-year-old daughter Adele.