Sergei Babayan

• Recipient of the first prize at the Robert Casadesus International Piano Competition (formerly the Cleveland International Piano Competition, 1989)
• Recipient of the first prize at the Palm Beach International Piano Competition (1990)
• Recipient of the first prize at the Hamamatsu Piano Competition (1991)
• Recipient of the first prize at the Scottish International Piano Competition (1992)

A student of such legendary teachers and musicians as Gornostayeva, Naumov, Pletnev and Vlasenko at the Moscow Conservatoire, Sergei Babayan was one of the first pianists of the former USSR to compete without Government sponsorship following the collapse of the country’s political system.

Immediately after his first trip outside the USSR he won consecutive first prizes at several major international competitions. Since then he has had major engagements and concert tours throughout Europe, Japan, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, South America and the USA. His New York recitals at Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall and performances with the Cleveland Orchestra, the Baltimore Symphony and the Detroit Symphony met with huge critical acclaim, as have his numerous subsequent recital and concert performances throughout the USA. His concert schedule has included performances and broadcasts in major European cities as well as extensive tours of Japan. He has appeared at such prestigious venues as the Salle Gaveau in Paris, Wigmore Hall and Barbican Hall in London, Carnegie Hall in New York, the Warsaw Philharmonic, Severance Hall in Cleveland, the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg, the Herkulessaal in Munich, the Liederhalle in Stuttgart, the Meistersingerhalle in Nuremberg, the Konzerthaus in Berlin, the Johannes-Brahms-Saal in Karlsruhe, the Beethovenhalle in Bonn and the Rudolfinum-Dvořák Hall in Prague.

Sergei Babayan has appeared at many major music festivals in France, Germany, the UK, Poland, Spain and the USA. His concerts have been broadcast by WQXR, WCLV, Radio France, Polish Radio and Television, the BBC and NHK Satellite Television.

He has made several highly praised recordings for the labels EMC, Connoisseur Society and Pro Piano. His recordings of Scarlatti, Ligeti, Messiaen, Mozart, Mendelssohn, Ravel, Schubert, Liszt, Vine, Respighi and Prokofiev have won great acclaim including a “critic’s choice” from The New York Times which praised Babayan’s “extraordinary technique and ability to play densely harmonized works with illuminating transparency and a daunting measure of control.” American Record Guide joins in these accolades, praising his “phenomenal level of color and imagination.” Concerning the recording of the Scarlatti Sonatas, American Record Guide says “It can stand proudly besides that of Horowitz...”

Mr Babayan has appeared with many major orchestras throughout the world including the London Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra, the Warsaw Philharmonic, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre National de Lille and the New World Symphony. His performances with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra were received with great enthusiasm by audiences and critics alike.

He has collaborated with such conductors as Valery Gergiev, Yuri Temirkanov, Neeme Järvi, Hans Graf, David Robertson, Kazimierz Kord and Michael Christie, and his concert repertoire is constantly growing – to date it includes fifty-four concerti.

Sergei Babayan’s deep interest in and love for the music of Bach has led him to study more recently under Helmuth Rilling.

His unusual and imaginative recital programming has always elicited interest and praise. Mr Babayan is an enthusiastic advocate of new music and his repertoire is vast. Always in search of the new, Sergei Babayan has studied conducting in order to deepen his understanding of the orchestra and to be able to study and perform music of the 20^th century which is of particular interest to him.

In May 2006 Sergei Babayan was invited by Valery Gergiev to perform Lutosławski’s piano concerto at the XIV Stars of the White Nights international festival in St Petersburg with the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra. He was recently invited by Gergiev to perform Prokofiev’s Third Piano Concerto at the Easter Festival, and he returned to London this year to perform at the Barbican with the London Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Maestro Gergiev to great critical acclaim.

Other recent highlights include a concert at the Mariinsky Theatre and at the 92^nd Y in New York, the Prague Spring Festival with the Janáček Chamber Orchestra and a performance of Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto in Belfast, which was broadcast by the BBC.