Born in Dalmatovo in the Kurgan Region, Emil Yakovlev finished the Kurgan Music School and completed his studies under Oleg Fedorovich Shulpyakov at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory named after N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov. In 2016 he was a trainee conductor under Vladimir Abramovich Altshuler.
In 1994–1997 Emil Yakovlev was a member of the Saint Petersburg Mozarteum chamber orchestra. In 1999–2014 he worked as a concertmaster of the Baltic chamber orchestra. From 2008 to 2011 he acted as a music director of Sergey Bezrukov’s Hooligan’s Confession. From 2013 to 2020 he was a member of the Saint Petersburg Academic Symphony Orchestra named after D.D. Shostakovich.
Together with the Remolino ensemble, he toured in Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Poland, Great Britain, China, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland and the USA. He is a member of jazz ensembles in Saint Petersburg.
In 2016–2019 he was an arranger and leader of the concert ensemble of Vasily Gerello. Also he was a guest concertmaster soloist of the Narva Symphony Orchestra.
From October 2020 Emil Yakovlev has been an artist and concertmaster for principal violinists of the Mariinsky Orchestra of the Primorsky Stage.
