Benjamin Mekinulov started his cello studies at the age of 6 with Professor Feng Hew, continued his studies for a couple years with Professor David Ying, and is currently attending the prestigious Cleveland Institute of Music, studying cello performance with the renowned professor, Dr. Melissa Kraut. In the summer of 2018 and 2019, Benjamin attended the Bowdoin Music festival in Maine; previous festivals attended were Buffalo Suzuki and Bravo Workshop. In December of 2018-2019 and 2019-2020, Ben placed first in the NYSSMA festival in Rochester NY where the best musicians of NY state meet for a 4-day festival. Ben has been a principal cellist of the Greater Buffalo Youth Orchestra since 2016 and, in 2019 he was a concerto competition winner with the Elgar Cello Concerto. Ben has won the first prize in the Erie County Music Scholarship Auditions, The Amherst Symphony Scholarship Competition, The Friends of BPO Scholarship Audition, and the Silverman Scholarship. For the summer of 2020 Benjamin was accepted into the National Youth Orchestra that takes place in July and performs at Carnegie Hall in New York City. Benjamin has attended the Colorado College festival, Sitka Music festival, Aspen Music Festival, and is planning to attend Sarasota Music Festival and Aims Graz Festival for the upcoming summer of 2023. He has also attended master classes with several artists including Mark Kosower, Bion Tsang, David Ying, Alan Rafferty. In the fall of 2021, Ben won a section spot in the Canton Symphony Orchestra. In April 2022, Benjamin won Gold Medal in Cleveland Cello Society Scholarship Audition. This past March, Ben won the first-place prize for the Tuesday Musical Competition. In April of 2023, Benjamin Mekinulov won the principal job in the Charleston Symphony and will be starting this coming fall.