Biography
Pianist Denis Kozhukhin first achieved worldwide recognition by taking top honors at the 2010 Queen Elizabeth Competition. Subsequent engagements soon materialized at such prominent locations as Carnegie Hall and the Leipzig Gewandhaus, prompting a wave of additional invitations that carried him across continents and earned admiration from reviewers and listeners alike. Tall and commanding as he enters the stage, he performs with formidable command and unwavering assurance, qualities essential for the demanding programs he favors.
Born in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, on July 2, 1986, Kozhukhin received his earliest instruction from his mother at age four and later continued locally with Natalia Fish at the Balakirev School of Music. At fourteen he relocated to Madrid for studies at the Reine Sofia School of Music under Dmitri Bashkirov and Claudio Martínez-Mehner, while also attending master classes given by Alicia de Larrocha, Leon Fleisher, and Rosalyn Tureck. Additional training followed at the International Piano Academy Lake Como with Peter Frankl, Fou Ts'ong, Boris Berman, and others; even after his Queen Elizabeth success, he remained enrolled at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik in Stuttgart with Kirill Gerstein.
Earlier recognition arrived when Kozhukhin earned third prize at the 2006 Leeds International Piano Competition, an achievement that expanded his visibility beyond smaller halls. The 2009 Vendome Prize in Lisbon brought further notice, yet he immediately shifted focus toward preparing for the Queen Elizabeth, where his final-round performance of Prokofiev’s Second Concerto secured victory. His repertoire encompasses equally formidable works such as Brahms’s Second Concerto along with pieces by Liszt, Chopin, Schumann, Mussorgsky, and Rachmaninov, while also embracing J.S. Bach, Haydn, and contemporary scores including those of Ligeti. Chamber-music collaborations regularly feature cellists Alisa Weilerstein and Jacob Koranyi, hornist Radovan Vlatkovic, and violinist Dora Schwarzberg.
The first major engagement after the Brussels triumph was a 2010 Carnegie Hall recital that received favorable notice from the New York Times. His initial recording, released by Onyx in 2013, presented Prokofiev’s War Sonatas; in 2020 he appeared on a PentaTone Classics album devoted to Weber and an Alpha recording of Franck’s Symphonic Variations.
Born in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, on July 2, 1986, Kozhukhin received his earliest instruction from his mother at age four and later continued locally with Natalia Fish at the Balakirev School of Music. At fourteen he relocated to Madrid for studies at the Reine Sofia School of Music under Dmitri Bashkirov and Claudio Martínez-Mehner, while also attending master classes given by Alicia de Larrocha, Leon Fleisher, and Rosalyn Tureck. Additional training followed at the International Piano Academy Lake Como with Peter Frankl, Fou Ts'ong, Boris Berman, and others; even after his Queen Elizabeth success, he remained enrolled at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik in Stuttgart with Kirill Gerstein.
Earlier recognition arrived when Kozhukhin earned third prize at the 2006 Leeds International Piano Competition, an achievement that expanded his visibility beyond smaller halls. The 2009 Vendome Prize in Lisbon brought further notice, yet he immediately shifted focus toward preparing for the Queen Elizabeth, where his final-round performance of Prokofiev’s Second Concerto secured victory. His repertoire encompasses equally formidable works such as Brahms’s Second Concerto along with pieces by Liszt, Chopin, Schumann, Mussorgsky, and Rachmaninov, while also embracing J.S. Bach, Haydn, and contemporary scores including those of Ligeti. Chamber-music collaborations regularly feature cellists Alisa Weilerstein and Jacob Koranyi, hornist Radovan Vlatkovic, and violinist Dora Schwarzberg.
The first major engagement after the Brussels triumph was a 2010 Carnegie Hall recital that received favorable notice from the New York Times. His initial recording, released by Onyx in 2013, presented Prokofiev’s War Sonatas; in 2020 he appeared on a PentaTone Classics album devoted to Weber and an Alpha recording of Franck’s Symphonic Variations.
Albums
Weber: Clarinet Quintet, Concertino for Clarinet, Grand Duo Concertant & Der Freischütz Overture
2020
Haydn: Piano Sonatas
2014
Prokofiev: The War Sonatas; Piano Sonatas Nos. 6, 7 & 8
2013
Singles
