A native of Leningrad, Russia, Mekinulov immigrated to the United States in 1989 to study at the Juilliard School, where he earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees under scholarship in the class of Professor Harvey Shapiro. Mekinulov has performed extensively throughout the United States, Italy, Austria, Hungary, Germany, France, Greece, Denmark, Switzerland, and Russia. He has appeared as a principal cellist of the Juilliard Symphony and Orchestra under Kurt Masur, Hugh Wolf and Leonard Slatkin; the North Carolina Symphony in their European Tour; and the Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra in Germany. Mekinulov became principal cellist of the BPO in 2001, and has been featured numerous times as soloist. He maintains a robust teaching studio and is a founding member and Artistic Director of the Bravo International Chamber Music Workshop for high school and college students. In 2015, Concierto en Tango, written for Mekinulov by Miguel del Aguila and performed and recorded with the BPO, was nominated for a Latin Grammy. Recent engagements include concerto appearances with the Virginia Symphony, Albany Symphony, and Erie Chamber Orchestra as well as the US premiere of Krzysztof Penderecki’s Concerto doppio with the BPO.