Lev Loiko
viola
© Barbara Aumüller
Lev Loiko was born in Ivanovo near Moscow to a family of chemists. His talent was spotted by Naelya Chistyakova who began teaching him the violin when he was five. He has been awarded a number of prizes and scholarships from internatonal youth music competition and foundatons throughout Europe. After completing his studies in St Petersburg and Moscow he moved to Germany to study at the Musik Hanns Eisler University for Music in Berlin where he received his Bachelor degree with Prof. Tabea Zimmermann. He was a member of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra's Karajan Academy from 2017 - 2019. and studied for his Master degree with Prof. Wilfried Strehle at the Berlin University of Arts. He was also inspired and taught by Naoko Shimizu, Amihai Grosz, Yuri Bashmet and Eberhard Feltz. He started devoting himself to chamber and orchestral music when he was young, performing at festivals including the Prague Spring, Baden-Baden Easter Festival, the Berlin Festspiele, Heidelberg Spring and the Zermat Festival and venues including the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Royal Festival Hall in London, the Musikverein in Vienna, the Berlin Philharmonie and Suntory Hall in Tokyo. He gave masterclasses at the renowned Gnessin Moscow Special School of Music in 2021 and since has been teaching the viola section of the Neue Philharmonie in Munich since 2023. He was awarded a scholarship by the German Orchestra Foundation in 2021. He joined the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra for the 2022/23 season, and he has been deputy principal violist at Oper Frankfurt since 2023. He has been appointed principal violist for the 2025/26 season.