Roman Markelov

Roman Markelov began his musical studies in 2005 with Igor Voronin in Voronezh. In 2012, he was admitted to the Gnessin College of Music in Moscow, where he studied with Leonid Drutin. After graduating, he continued his education at the Gnessin Russian Academy of Music, studying under Professor Margarita Shaposhnikova until 2018.

In 2015, as the youngest participant in the prestigious competition "Voice of the Saxophone in the Modern World" in Moscow, he received a special award that led to an invitation to perform as a soloist with the St. Petersburg Music House. As part of the Music House's international concert projects, he has appeared as a soloist throughout the world, performing in the United States, France, Austria, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Morocco, Moldova, Cyprus, India, Myanmar, and Tanzania.

Mr Markelov is also a three-time Gold Medal winner of the Delphic Games of Russia.

After completing his studies in Moscow, he continued his artistic development in Germany at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln, where he studied with Professor Daniel Gauthier.

In 2018, he performed a chamber music recital at the renowned Brucknerhaus Linz as part of the Russian Tuesdays concert series, together with cellist Alexander Ramm and pianist Anna Odintsova. In 2019, he won First Prize at the competition of the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln, earning an invitation to return to the Brucknerhaus for a solo recital in 2020 with pianist Philip Kopachevskiy.

In 2021, he gave the Russian premiere of Henri Tomasi's Concerto for Saxophone and Orchestra at the St. Petersburg Capella Concert Hall.

A major milestone in his international career came in 2022 when he received a prize at the prestigious Aeolus International Competition for Wind Instruments in Düsseldorf, where he was also awarded the Special Prize for the Best Interpretation of a Contemporary Work. This achievement was followed by invitations to perform as a soloist at the Tonhalle Düsseldorf, the Stadthalle Greifswald, the Theatre Stralsund, and the Conservatori Liceu in Barcelona.

Mr Markelov completed his Master's degree with distinction and graduated from the prestigious Konzertexamen programme with the highest possible mark, "Excellent". In 2023, he accepted an invitation from Professor Daniel Gauthier to join the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln as his teaching assistant. He continues to serve there as a lecturer in Classical Saxophone.He regularly gives masterclasses throughout Europe, including frequent engagements in Brescia, Italy. Today, Roman Markelov is regarded as one of the most sought-after young saxophonists in Europe and Asia. With an extensive repertoire and broad experience performing with orchestras across a wide range of musical genres, he is an active collaborator in international concert projects and artistic partnerships. Roman Markelov is dedicated to presenting the classical saxophone on the world's leading concert stages. His artistic mission is to showcase the instrument's extraordinary versatility and rich palette of colours to a broad audience. His repertoire includes many of the major original works for saxophone by composers such as Claude Debussy, Alexander Glazunov, Darius Milhaud, Erwin Schulhoff, Takashi Yoshimatsu, and Miguel Ángel Baez, among others. In addition, he creates his own transcriptions spanning the Baroque period to contemporary music. His programmes feature original arrangements of works by Johann Sebastian Bach, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Sergei Prokofiev, and Astor Piazzolla, alongside internationally acclaimed film music by composers including Ennio Morricone, Hans Zimmer, John Williams, and Carl Maria von Weber, offering audiences a unique and compelling concert experience.