Born in 1966 in St. Petersburg, in the family of a musician.
As a soloist and ensemble player, he performed with such outstanding musicians as M.Argerich, M.Jansons, Yu.Temirkanov, S.Stadler, A.Rudin, Yu.Milkis, N.Alekseev, V.Ziva, A.Katz, V.Chernushenko, etc. in Russia and in many European countries.
Ilya Ioff has a huge repertoire. He performs the works of almost all the most significant authors in the history of music who wrote for the violin — from J.S. Bach to F.Glass. He won a Special Prize at the ARD Competition in Munich (Germany) and the First Prize at the G. Viotti Competition in Vercelli (Italy).
Over the past seasons, Ioff's concerts with Divertimento have included works from the last three centuries, from Vivaldi and Bach to Martynov and Khrushchev. Such breadth of repertoire and healthy "omnivore" of the ensemble have earned well-deserved success among Russian, European and Japanese audiences.
Ilya Ioff has recorded several CDs in various roles. Among the recordings are Paganini's Concerto No. 1, sonatas by Mozart, Tartini, Schubert, Prokofiev, Frank, Schumann, Debussy and Brahms, Trio by Schubert, Tchaikovsky, chamber music by Dvorak, Brahms, Arensky and Borodin, Concerto Grosso No. 1 by Schnittke, music by Mussorgsky, etc.
In addition to performing, he leads a violin class at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, professor. Honored Artist of Russia, Laureate of the award of the Government of St. Petersburg in the nomination "performer of concert programs" (2013), Honorary member of the Philharmonic Society of St. Petersburg.