Natalia Timofeyeva (née Shneyder) was born to Ukrainian-Jewish parents who moved to Moscow from Odessa in the mid-1930s. Her mother Amalia Weksler was a gifted pianist who had to quit her musical career amidst the turmoil that followed the 1917 Revolution. Upon her graduation from the prestigious Central School of Music in Moscow, young Natalia joined the Moscow Conservatory. There she studied violoncello with Prof. Sergey Shirinsky and (occasionally) with Mstislav Rostropovich. She graduated in 1965, and since then has committed her life to teaching cello.
Timofeyeva began composing in the early 2000s, soon after her relocation to the US where she continues teaching cello. Together with her son Oleg Timofeyev, she recorded three CD albums, and for the third one (“Shloyme,” Profil PH 12000) she wrote most of the pieces. A number of Timofeyeva’s compositions for cello solo and cello and piano have been published by Bayard–Nizet Publishing House
Oleg Timofeyev
