Boris Berezovsky

Emerging as a leading contemporary exponent of Russia’s longstanding virtuoso piano tradition, Boris Berezovsky has also maintained an active presence in chamber music. Born on January 4, 1969, in Moscow, he bears no apparent relation to the late Russian business executive who shared his name. His early training took place in that city under Alexander Satz, after which he continued studies at the Moscow Conservatory with Eliso Virsaladze. A decisive early success arrived when he captured the gold medal at the 1990 Tchaikovsky International Competition in Moscow. Prior to that achievement, the pianist had already attracted international notice: his 1988 Wigmore Hall debut prompted the Times of London to praise its “dazzling virtuosity and formidable power.” During the competition itself he performed not only concerto repertoire but also chamber works alongside Itzhak Perlman and Yo-Yo Ma, and he accompanied soprano Jessye Norman; selected performances from those events appeared on Teldec’s 1990 Winners’ Gala album. The following year brought debuts in the United States—in Fort Worth, Texas, hometown of Tchaikovsky Competition laureate Van Cliburn—and in France at the Louvre museum. As a soloist Berezovsky has concentrated on the most technically demanding repertoire, encompassing Liszt, Rachmaninov, Prokofiev, and above all Nikolai Medtner; in 2006 he established an International Medtner Festival in Moscow. He has recorded the complete Beethoven piano concertos with the Swedish Chamber Orchestra led by Thomas Dausgaard. Berezovsky has collaborated with numerous major ensembles, among them the Philharmonia Orchestra in London, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the NDR Symphony Orchestra in Hamburg, and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, working under conductors such as Kurt Masur, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Andrew Litton, Mikhail Pletnev, and Antonio Pappano. In the chamber domain he has performed and recorded with violinist Dmitri Makhtin and cellist Alexander Kniazev, presenting trios by Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov, and Shostakovich. His discography exceeds forty albums as of the late 2010s; releases have appeared primarily on the Apex, Teldec, Erato, Simax, and Mirare labels. For the last of these he issued a recording of the Brahms Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor, Op. 15, together with the Stravinsky Concerto for piano and wind instruments, serving as both soloist and conductor with the State Academic Symphony of Russia “Evgeny Svetlanov.”