Maria Krestinskaya (baroque violin, viola d'amore).

Started attending violin classes under the supervision of Professor G. Taghauri at Tbilisi, Georgia, at the age of 7. After moving to Saint-Petersburg attended the Rimsky-Korsakov Special Middle School of Music (class of Nelya Sklyarskaya) and later graduated with honours from the Saint Petersburg State Conservatory (class of Vladimir Ovcharek) with a specialization in solo violin, chamber ensemble, teaching of music and orchestra solo violin.

Since 1998 has practiced and mastered authentic performance under the guidance of Marie Leonhardt (the Netherlands) and Musica Petropolitana Ensemble.

Prizewinner of international contests and festivals including Concertino Praga (the Czech Republic), Virtuosos of 2000 (Saint-Petersburg), Jascha Heifetz Competition (Vilnius, Lithuania) and Alexander Glazunov Competition (Paris) and one of the grant-winners of the Mstislav Rostropovich Fund. Invited to join several Terem Quartet shows. Performed as a solo baroque violin player and as a member of The Soloists of Katherine the Great Ensemble at EARLYMUSIC (Saint-Petersburg), Utrecht Oude Muziek (the Netherlands), Muzikfestspiele Sans-Souci (Germany), Avignon Early Music Festival (France), Vantaa Early Music Festival (Finland) and Boston Early Music Festival (the USA). Has taken part in early music concerts in Great Britain, France, Germany and the Netherlands.

A member of Andrei Reshetin’s ensembles, The Orchestra of Catherine the Great and The Soloists of Catherine the Great, since 2001. Was engaged in the presentation of Giovanni Paisiello’s I Filosofi Immaginari (Utrecht – Saint- Petersburg) and took part in the first performance of Matteson’s Boris Godunov at the Boston Early Music Festival directed by Stephen Stubbs and Paul O’ Dette. Attended masterclasses and courses given by Zakhar Bron, Boris Kuschnir, Marie Leonhardt, Andrew Mansi, Monica Huggett, Peter van Heyghen and Andrew Lawrence-King.

Has performed as a solo violin with such well-known and distinguished musicians and singers as Michael Chance, Paul O’ Dette, Stephen Stubbs, Phoebe Carrai, Kristian Bezuidenhout, Bob van Asperen, Hugo Reyene and Saggitarius Ensemble (France).

In 2011 joined Baltic Baroque Ensemble (art-director Grigori Maltizov) and Vivaldi Collection project aimed at recording all the instrumental creations by Antonio Vivaldi.

In 2012 founded Barocco Concertato Ensemble in Saint-Petersburg, the band became a 3rd prize-winner at Van Wassenaer Competition (Utrecht, the Netherlands) in 2016.

Has been a guest-member and first violin of Dmitriy Sinkovskiy’s La Voce Strumentale Ensemble (Moscow) since 2013.

In 2014 Maria performed as a guest concertmaster of the Il Complesso Barocco Orchestra at the world premiere of Christoph Willibald Gluck’s Demofont at the Vienna State Opera under the lead of Alan Curtis.

Has been giving a series of masterclasses on historically informed performance since the beginning of 2020.