Aresko Duo

Aresko Duo is a professional cello duo that is comprised of cellists Samuel Sykes and Benjamin Mekinulov. They are both exceptional musicians and together they deliver unique, charismatic, and exhilarating performances.

Samuel Sykes is currently a junior at the Cleveland Institute of Music. He began studying the cello at age three with Karen Geyer at the Northeast Iowa School of Music and made his concerto debut at age twelve. He then continued his studies with Kevin Price-Brenner and Peter Thomas, and attended the Interlochen Arts Academy from (phone number hidden)9. In May 2017 he was the recipient of the Interlochen Arts Academy’s Fine Arts Award for Cello Performance. Samuel was also the assistant principal of the ISTA Honors Orchestra in 2016, and performed as assistant principal of the World Youth Symphony the following summer under the baton of renowned conductors including Karina Canellakis, JoAnn Falleta, Carlos Kalmar, Cristian Măcelaru, Carlos Izcaray, and Jung-Ho Pak. Additionally, he was a YoungArts Winner in 2019 for Classical Music.
Samuel has participated in masterclasses with string quartets such as the Juilliard String Quartet, the Calidore String Quartet, and the Cavani Quartet. Some of his leading mentors include Hans Jørgen Jensen, Dennis Kim, David Garrett, Jonah Kim, and Zuill Baily. He is currently under the tutelage of Dr. Melissa Kraut at the Cleveland Institute of Music.

Benjamin Mekinulov started his cello studies at the age of 6 with Professor Feng Hew and continued his studies with Professor David Ying, and is now studying with Dr. Melissa Kraut at the Cleveland Institute of Music. Ben has been chosen to participate in all Erie County and NYSSMA music festivals since 2012. In the summer of 2018 and 2019 Benjamin attended the Bowdoin Music festival in Maine; also having attended the Buffalo Suzuki and Bravo Workshop. In both 2019 and 2020, Ben placed first in the New York State School Music Association festival in Rochester, New York - where the best musicians of NY state meet for a four day festival. Additionally, Ben was principal cellist of the Greater Buffalo Youth Orchestra from (phone number hidden)9, also winning concerto competition in 2019 and subsequently performing the Elgar Cello Concerto alongside the orchestra.
Additionally, 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. In 2020, he was accepted into the highly competitive National Youth Orchestra that performs at Carnegie Hall in New York City. This most recent summer, Ben attended the Colorado College festival and Sitka Music Festival.