Dmitry Yablonsky was born in Moscow into a musical family, his mother is famed pianist Oxana Yablonskaya and his father is Albert Zaionz, who has been solo oboe of the Radio and Television orchestra in Moscow for 30 years.

Dmitry began playing the cello when he was 5 years old and was accepted into the Central Music School for gifted children. At the age of 9 he gave his orchestral debut playing Haydn´s cello concerto in C major. In Russia, Dmitry studied with Stefan Kalianov, who has been Rostropovich´s assistant and Isaak Buravsky, who for many years was solo cello of Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra. Before immigrating to the United States he performed on many occasions in Moscow and many cities of the former Soviet Union. Leaving the Soviet Union was not that easy in the 1970s, and the visa application was first refused and it took a few years and many signatures from many well known personalities such as Leonard Bernstein, and Katharine Hepburn to convince the Soviet authorities to issue a visa to allow his mother to leave the country.

Upon arrival in New York in 1977, he auditioned to the Juilliard School of Music and was accepted to study with Lorne Munroe principal cellist of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra.

In the summer of 1979, at the age 16, Dmitry was accepted to participate in Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont and was the youngest participant that summer. In Marlboro he met many great musicians as M. Horszowski, M.Tree, M. Shneider, M.Foley and many others. He played for David Soyer, cellist of Guarneri Quartet, who offered for Dmitry a place at the Curtis Institute of Music.

In the summer of 1980, Dmitry met Aldo Parisot, distinguished cellist and professor at Yale University where Dmitry spent 4 years. At Yale he became interested in conducting after meeting Otto Werner Muller, conducting professor.

Courtesy: Wikipedia