Multi-instrumentalist Ilona Les comes from a musical family and began her musical career at the age of three on the piano, before learning the cello at six. After graduating from the Hrodna Music College in 2009, she continued her studies at the Belarusian State Academy of Music, receiving her artistic and pedagogical diploma in cello with honors in 2014. Even during her studies, she played in renowned ensembles of the Belarusian Philharmonic, later in the orchestra of the Bolshoi Opera and Ballet Theatre in Minsk, in the Minsk String Quartet, and taught at the Glinka Music College.
Driven by her passion for Baroque music, Ilona moved to Germany in 2017 to pursue a Master's degree in Baroque cello with Prof. Kristin von der Goltz at the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts (HfMDK), which she successfully completed in 2020. Building on this foundation, she deepened her knowledge of historical performance practice, studied the historical double bass/violone with Dane Roberts, and graduated with distinction in 2024 from the HfMDK with a degree in viola da gamba under Heidi Gröger.
Ilona's artistic versatility encompasses a wide-ranging repertoire from the Renaissance and early Baroque periods to contemporary music. She is in demand as a soloist, in consort ensembles, and with symphony orchestras. She performs regularly with the Main Baroque Orchestra. In 2024–2025, she toured Germany as a cellist with the musical Elisabeth.
In 2024, the CD J. Pachelbel – „Magnificat II“, on which Ilona played the tenor and descant viola da gamba, was released by Himlische Cantorey. In 2025, she made her debut on the historical viola da gamba by Wörlin (1680) at the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival.
A particular focus of her work is chamber music: in 2022, she co-founded the Les AMIs Consort with fellow students, which reached the final round of the Biaggio Marrini Competition in 2024. Since 2023, she has also been a cellist and gambist with the ensemble CommuSicare. Ilona Les has participated in numerous international festivals and masterclasses, including "Junger Künstler Bayreuth," the Eichstätt Music Festival, the JSB Ensemble Academy, the Höri Music Days on Lake Constance, and the FBO Ensemble Academy Freiburg. Her sources of inspiration include Paolo Pandolfo, Michael Schneider, Petra Müllejans, and Marcus Aurelius.