The recipient of a scholarship from the Mstislav Rostropovich Foundation, Maria Zaitseva is a graduate of the Gnessin Moscow Special School of Music, where she studied under Oleg Bugaev. She has taken part in masterclasses given by such cellists as Frans Helmerson, Alexander Kniazev and Alexander Rudin. In 2024 she was awarded both First Prize and the audience award at the 73rd ARD Music Competition, having won Second Prize at the 17th Tchaikovsky Competition in 2023 and First Prize at the Svyatoslav Knushevitsky International Competition in 2021. In Russia she has performed at the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall and in the Great Halls of the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatoire and the St. Petersburg Shostakovich Academic Philharmonic. On the international stage, she has appeared in Croatia, Czechia, Estonia, France, Lithuania, the Netherlands and Spain.

Instrument: Jan Pawlikowski (2011)

Teachers

2018 - : Oleg Bugaev

Degrees

2023 - : Moscow Gnessin Special School (college) of Music (2020), Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory

Concerts

2024 : Herkulessaal, Münich, ARD competition, Gala concert, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Hankyeol Yoon

Competitions

2024 : 1st prize, audience prize, 73th ARD Musikwettbewerb
2023 : 2nd prize, 17th Tchaikovsky competition