Alexander Kniazev, considered the real successor of Mstislav Rostropovitch, studied cello at the Moscow Conservatory under Alexander Fedorchenko and organ under the famous Galina Kozlova. He won the Gaspar Cassado International Cello Competition, the Trapani International Chamber Music Competition and the UNISA International String Competition in Pretoria, South Africa.
Alexander Kniazev has performed with many renowned conductors: Evgeny Svetlanov, Yuri Temirkanov, Mstislav Rostropovitch, Yuri Bashmet, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Maxim Shostakovich, Neeme Järvi and Kurt Mazur. He has collaborated with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of London, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Göteborgs Symfoniker, Residentie Orkest Den Haag, Orchestre National de France and the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra a. o. He was also invited to the festival Les soirées de Décembre in Moscow, organized by Sviatoslav Richter. His chamber music partners are Brigitte Engerer, Evgeny Kissin, Vadim Repin, Plamena Mangova, Boris Berezovsky, Dmitri Makhtin and Nikolai Lugansky. Alexander Kniazev also has performed as a trio with Boris Berezovsky and Dmitri Makhtin on the various prestigious scenes:  like the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Palais des Beaux Arts in Brussels, the Wigmore Hall in London, the Lincoln Center in New York and at the Salzburg Festival. This season he has already performed at the Musikverein Wien with Vladimir Fedoseyev, Salle Pleyel in Paris and Montpellier Festival with Evgeny Kissin and Silvia Marcovici.
In 2010, Alexander Kniazev will perform six Bach suites at the St. Petersburg Philharmonia and the Myaskovsky’s cello concerto and chamber music at the Salle Pleyel with Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and his partners Boris Berezovsky and Dmitri Makhtin. Mr. Knaziev has recorded many prize winning CD’s, the latest of which was Dvorak’s cello concerto with the Moscow Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra and Vladimir Fedoseyev under Lontano/Warner Classics International, released in March 2009. Last season Alexander Kniazev toured Europe with the same programme.