Born in Kyiv, Ukraine, Dima Tkachenko started playing the violin and piano before the age of 6. He studied at the Lysenko Music School, graduating in 1995 to the National Music Academy of Ukraine (former Kyiv Conservatoire) studying under Bogodar Kotorovych and Jaroslava Rivniak. In 1998 he was invited to London to study at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama under Yfrah Neaman. In 2002 Dima was made a Fellow of the Guildhall School and has been working with Krzysztof Smietana and David Takeno.

Dima Tkachenko was awarded the Guildhall School Concert Recital Diploma (Premier Prix) in 1999. He has been a prize-winner at several international violin competitions including the Carl Nielsen Competition (Odense, Denmark, 2000), the Lysenko Competition (Kyiv, Ukraine, 1997) and the Wronski Solo Violin Competition (Warsaw, Poland, 1997).

His major UK concert appearances include performances at London’s South Bank Centre, Wigmore Hall, St John's Smith Square and Barbican Hall. In Ukraine he has performed at all major venues and with all major orchestras. He has also toured extensively throughout Europe (Belarus, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, The Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Switzerland), Japan, China and the USA.

He has been broadcast on Ukrainian Radio and TV, ORT Russian TV, Danish Radio and on BBC Radio 3.

Since 2006 he has been an invited teacher at the National Music Academy of Ukraine. In November 2007 he was on the Jury of the Torun International Violin Competition “Karol Szymanowski in memoriam” in Poland and, in December 2007, on the Jury of the Lysenko International Violin Competition in Kyiv, Ukraine.

Dima Tkachenko is also the co-founder and Artistic Director of the Benjamin Britten International Music Competitions in London and the co-founder of the Kyiv Festival in Ukraine.