Dmitry Yablonsky (born 1963) is a Russian classical cellist and conductor.
Yablonsky was born in Moscow in a musical family; his mother is the pianist Oxana Yablonskaya, and his father, Albert Zaionz, is principal oboist with the Moscow Radio and Television Orchestra. Yablonsky began playing cello at age five, and attended the Central Music School for gifted children. At age nine, he made his debut as cellist and conductor, performing Haydn's Cell Concerto in C Major. He studied with Stefan Kalianov, Rostropovich’s assistant, and Isaak Buravsky, for many years solo cello of Bolshoy Theatre Orchestra, before his family emigrated to the United States.
In 1979, at age 16, he attended the Marlboro Summer School and Festival of Music, and was the youngest musician there. He later studied at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, then Yale University, where he studied with cellist Aldo Parisot.[1]
Yablonsky began conducting at age 26, in Italy, replacing another conductor at the last minute. Since then, he has led many orchestras, including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and is currently the Principal Guest Conductor of the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra.
Yablonsky has recorded dozens of CDs, for the Erato-Warner, Chandos, Naxos and Marco Polo record labels, focusing on Russian and Eastern European repertoire.
Yablonsky is Co-Artistic Director of Qabala Music Festival in Azerbaijan. He is an academician of the Independent Academy of Aesthetics and Liberal Arts in Moscow, and also teaches cello at the Baku Academy of Music.