Alexander Vasilievich Ivashkin, born on August 17, 1948, in Blagoveshchensk, Soviet Union, was a Russian cellist, writer, academic, and conductor. He began his musical education at age five at the Gnessin School for Gifted Children in Moscow and later studied at the Gnessin Institute and Moscow Conservatory. In 1978, Ivashkin became co-principal cellist of the Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra and founded the Bolshoi Soloists chamber orchestra. He became a professor of music at Goldsmiths, University of London in 1999 and directed the Centre for Russian Music. His recorded work includes complete cello music by Sergei Prokofiev, Dmitri Shostakovich, and Alfred Schnittke. He died on January 31, 2014.
