Christina Daysog Concert Artists
Andrei Gavrilov
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Andrei Gavrilov, piano

Biography

Andrei Gavrilov, born in Moscow, comes from an artistic family. His father, Vladimir Gavrilov, was a great painter; and his mother a pianist and former pupil of Henrich Neuhaus, was his first teacher. He graduated Central Music School in Moscow in 1973, where he studied with Tatiana Kestner. Later that year, he entered the Moscow Conservatory studying with Lev Naumov. At the age of 18, he won First Prize at the 1974 International Tchaikovsky Competition and that same year made a successful international debut at the Salzburg Festival, substituting in for Sviatoslav Richter. He has subsequently enjoyed a distinguished international career which has included performances with many of the world's greatest orchestras.

He made his London debut in 1976 with Paavo Berglund and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra in the Royal Festival Hall. In 1978, he performed with the Berlin Philharmonic in a major European concert tour of 30 concerts. By 1980 he had performed in all the major cultural centers in the world. Andrei Gavrilov made a triumphant return to the British concert stage in 1984, after a politically enforced absence, giving recitals at the Barbican and the Royal Festival Hall. He successfully petitioned Mikhail Gorbachev for his freedom, and became the first Soviet artist to be granted permission to stay in the West without having to file for political asylum.

Proclaimed a major artist by the New York Times' critic Donal Henahan following his Carnegie Hall debut in 1985, Andrei Gavrilov has since performed with orchestras in New York, Los Angeles, Detroit, Cleveland, Chicago, Philadelphia, Montreal, Toronto, London, Vienna, Paris, Berlin, Munich, Amsterdam, Tokyo, Moscow, St-Petersburg and many other major orchestras with conductors including Abbado, Haitink, Muti, Ozawa, Svetlanov, Tennstedt, Rattle and Sir Neville Mariner among numerous others.

Between 1976 and 1990, Andrei Gavrilov was an exclusive artist with EMI, winning several international prizes including a Gramophone Award in 1979, Deutscher Schallplattenpreis in 1981, Grand Prix International du Disque de L'Academie Charles Crois in 1985 and 1986, and International Record Critics Award (IRCA) in 1985. Among his other awards are the 1989 Premio Internazionale Accademia Musicale Chigiana (the jury of music critics proclaiming him the greatest pianist in the world). In 1990, Andrei Gavrilov signed an exclusive contract with Deutsche Gramophone, leading to highly regarded recordings of Chopin, Prokofiev, Schubert, Bach and Grieg. In 1998, Andrei Gavrilov was selected as one of the pianists featured in the Philips Music Group's “Great Pianists of the Twentieth Century” collection.

From 1994 until 2001 Andrei Gavrilov took a sabbatical from public performance and studied philosophy and religion, while searching for new ideas and a new approach to music. He made his triumphant comeback to Russia in 2001 after an absence of 16 years, playing four piano concertos in one evening in the Moscow Conservatory. Since then, he performs regularly around the world again with greater success than ever. In 2009, his world tour included a critically successful four-months long tour throughout Russia. In 2010, after a 14 year absence, he performed four consecutive concerts at the Vienna Philharmonic’s Golden Hall to great critical acclaim.

Since 2012, when Andrei Gavrilov held his first master classes in Madrid and in London, he has been giving master classes all around the world as his concert schedule allows and thoroughly enjoys passing his ideas and experience on to other pianists.

In 2013, he completed writing his three-volume autobiography, the first volume of which was published in Russian and German in March & April 2014 respectively and was a best seller in Germany and Russia for two years. He also made his first new recording in 20 years: a CD of Chopin Nocturnes, which was done specially to be included with each copy of the book. Numerous other CD and DVD recordings are being planned of works by Bach, Chopin, Liszt, Schumann and others.

Andrei Gavrilov realized his longtime dream of playing and conducting concertos from the piano in April 2013 when he performed a concert in Belgrade playing and conducting three romantic concertos in one evening, with a full orchestra. Since then, he has been performing such concerts around the world to the highest critical acclaim.

Mr. Gavrilov lives in Switzerland with his wife and son.

Website: http://www.andreigavrilov.com/

September 2016. Please discard any previously dated materials.