Mikhail Pochekin was born in 1990 into a musical family, his father being the famous violin maker Yuri Pochekin, and his mother, Elena Pochekina, a violin teacher. From the age of 5 he studied with Galina Turchaninova, then improved his skills under the tutelage of Viktor Tretyakov, Anna Chumachenko and Rainer Schmidt at the Higher Schools of Music in Cologne, Munich and Madrid, Mozarteum University Salzburg and The City of Basel Music Academy. The musician also attended master classes by Christian Tetzlaff.
Mikhail Pochekin has won awards and special prizes at numerous international competitions, including Andrea Postacchini Violin Competition in Fermo (Italy, 2007), Rodolfo Lipizer Prize International Violin Competition in Gorizia (Italy, 2008), Jascha Heifetz competition in Vilnius (Lithuania, 2009), Pablo Sarasate International Violin Competition in Pamplona (Spain, 2009), and Ruggiero Ricci Competition in Salzburg (Austria, 2015). In 2008, he was awarded Pablo Sarasate Prize and was invited by the Madrid Conservatory to appear in a concert playing the famous Boissier violin by Antonio Stradivari, previously owned by Sarasate.<<cut>>
Touring extensively in Russia, Spain, Croatia, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, France, Turkey, Ukraine and other countries, Mikhail Pochekin has appeared in Moscow and St. Petersburg Conservatories, Tchaikovsky Concert Hall, Rachmaninoff Concert Hall (Philharmonic-2), Mariinsky Theatre Concert Hall, National Music Auditorium in Madrid, Palau de la Música de València, Auditorium in Zaragoza, Munich and Cologne Philharmonic Halls, Gasteig Cultural Center in Munich, Laeiszhalle in Hamburg, and Salzburg Mozarteum. The musician has also been a guest of famous festivals, including the Kronberg Academy Festival, AlpenKlassik Festival in Bad Reichenhall (Germany), Schubertíada in Vilabertran (Spain) and Sofia Gubaidulina International Festival of Contemporary Music Concordia in Kazan. A regular participant of Stars of the 21st Century, a joint project of the Moscow Philharmonic Society and the Russian Ministry of Culture, the violinist has toured over 40 Russian cities with the project.
Mikhail Pochekin has collaborated with the Svetlanov Symphony Orchestra, Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, Russian National Orchestra, National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia, Mariinsky Symphony Orchestra, Novaya Rossiya State Symphony Orchestra, Moscow State Symphony Orchestra under Pavel Kogan, Ural Philharmonic Orchestra, Tatarstan National Symphony Orchestra, Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonieorchester Basel, the Navarre Symphony Orchestra, Stuttgarter Kammerorchester, Württemberg Philharmonic Orchestra in Reutlingen, and Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra, appearing under renowned conductors including Vassily Sinaisky, Yury Simonov, Alexander Sladkovsky, Sergey Skripka, Valery Polyansky, Alexander Slutsky, Stanislav Kochanovsky, Juozas Domarkas, Heinz Holliger, Ilmar Lapins, Kevin Griffiths, Bojan Suđić, Mikhail Agrest, and Gavriel Heine.
On the stage, Mikhail Pochekin partners closely with Wen Sinn Yang, Christian Tetzlaff, Kian Soltani, Christian Brembeck, Benedict Kloeckner, Kiveli Dörken, Petrit Çeku, Rainer Schmidt, Anna Chumachenko, Alexander Ramm and other soloists. For years, the violinist has performed in a duo with the pianist Yury Favorin.
Concerts with his brother, violinist and viola player Ivan Pochekin, are of special importance to Mikhail Pochekin. In 2017, Melodiya released The Unity of Opposites, the Pochekin brothers’ joint album featuring works by Michael Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Reinhold Glière, and Sergey Prokofiev. Two years later, the artist recorded a CD with Bach violin sonatas and partitas for Solo Musica, Germany.
Looking forward, the musician plans to continue performing with the Moscow State Symphony Orchestra under Pavel Kogan, Svetlanov Symphony Orchestra, Die Neubrandenburger Philharmonie (Germany) and other orchestras.