Born in 1957 to a family of musicians, Alexei Utkin began studying piano at the Moscow Central Music School but changed to the oboe when he was ten. He received both his undergraduate and graduate degrees from the Moscow Conservatory in the class of Professor A.Petrov, and received First Prize at the Russian National Oboe Competition in 1985.

Utkin's career is devoted exclusively to the solo and chamber music repertoire. As a soloist, he has performed with the Moscow Virtuosi, conducted by Vladimir Spivakov at Carnegie Hall and Avery Fisher Hall in New York, the Concertgebuow (Amsterdam), Palau de la Musica and Auditorio Nacionál (Spain), Accademia Santa Cecilia (Rome), Théâtre des Champs Elysées (Paris), Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, Hercules Hall (Munich), etc. RCA-BMG has recorded a number of his performances with the "Moscow Virtuosi," as well as his performances of solo and chamber music on both oboe and oboe d'amore.

In addition to his collaboration with Spivakov, he has also worked with such prominent artists as Eliso Virdisladze, Natalia Gutman, J.Radovan VladkoVltch, E.Stunner, Alexander Rudin, and Valery Popov. In 1986, Alexei Utkin joined the Moscow Conservatory faculty as Professor of Oboe.