Mikhail Pletnev

Pianist, conductor and composer Mikhail Pletnev was born to musician parents in Arkhangelsk, Russia in 1957. Displaying exceptional musical talent from an early age, he was 13 when he began to study the piano at the Moscow Conservatory with Jacob Flier and Lev Vlasenko. In 1978, Pletnev won the Moscow Tchaikovsky Competition, which led to his international breakthrough and concert tours outside of the former Soviet Union, appearing on stage in the world’s major concert halls with the finest orchestras and conductors. But within two years of winning the Moscow Tchaikovsky Competition, Pletnev made his conducting debut in 1980 and began a career in which he has arguably made an even greater name for himself than as a pianist. His achievements as a conductor brought him to the attention of audiences all over the world when, with the support of the Soviet president, Mikhail Gorbachev, he founded the Russian National Orchestra. As the first fully independent orchestra in his country’s history, it soon became a magnet for leading Russian musicians and an ensemble of international standing. It was the first Russian orchestra to perform at the Vatican in a private concert for Pope John Paul II, as well as the first Russian orchestra to tour Israel after the fall of the Soviet Union. As a guest conductor, Pletnev has made appearances with the Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Philharmonia, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. In 2008, he was appointed principal guest conductor of the Lugano-based Orchestra della Svizzera italiana. As an accomplished composer, his list of works includes a dozen titles for piano and orchestra, including a re-orchestration of Chopin’s piano concertos. Pletnev, however, remains equally active as a pianist. After signing an exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon in 1993, his first solo album – an all-Chopin recital – was immediately voted Disc of the Year by the German music critic Joachim Kaiser. Performances include the New Year’s Eve concert in Berlin with the Berliner Philharmoniker and Claudio Abbado in 1997, as well as with the Leonard Slatkin and the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington DC and the inaugural concert at the newly established China Philharmonic Orchestra in Beijing under Long Yu in 2000. Recorded live, his Carnegie Hall debut in the same year received an ECHO Klassik Award, and his 2003 recording of his own Suite from Prokofiev’s Cinderella, performed in his own two-piano arrangement with Martha Argerich, was showered with accolades, including a Grammy, the German Record Critics’ Prize, a Diapason d’or, a Choc du Monde de la musique and a MIDEM Classical Award. He remains the artistic director and conductor laureate of the Russian National Orchestra and has been honoured by President Putin with Russia’s First State Prize for his services to music.