SEMIFINAL ROUND I
Mozart Fantasia in C Minor, K.475 Ravel Gaspard de la nuit
Chopin Etude in C Major, Op.10, No.1
SEMIFINAL ROUND II
Rachmaninoff Sonata No.2 in B-flat Minor, Op.36 (1931)
Evgeny Brakhman was born in Nizhny Novgorod where he played his first recital at the age of 7. He pursued post-graduate courses at the Moscow Conservatory where he was one of the last students of legendary Lev Naumov.
As a scholarship winner from the M. Rostropovich Foundation (1997–98), he participated in the “Russian Music School” festival at New York’s Carnegie Hall. Perhaps
his most important victory came in 1999 when he won first prize in the Dino Ciani International Piano Competition at La Scala in Milan where the jury was presided over by Ricardo Muti and included Martha Argerich, Michel Beroff, Fou Ts’Ong, and Fanny Waterman. As a result of this prize he played recitals at La Scala, Milan; Tonhalle, Zurich; Konzerthaus, Vienna; and took part in some of Europe’s most prestigious music festivals including the Martha Argerich Project in Lugano, Switzerland.
A prizewinner of more than 10 international piano competitions worldwide, Brakhman has performed in 20 countries. His orchestral performances include the La Scala Theatre Orchestra, Tivoli Symphony, Bournemouth Symphony, Royal Scottish Symphony, Franz Liszt Orchestra, and the Vienna Chamber Orchestra.
Recent awards in Cleveland, Tbilisi and Rio de Janeiro competitions have resulted in performances at Cleveland’s Severance Hall, Théâtre de la Ville in Paris, Grand Hall of Tbilisi Conservatory, and the Mu- nicipal Theatre in Rio de Janeiro with the Cleveland Orchestra, Russian National Orchestra, Georgian National Orchestra, and the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra. In 2011-12 he toured South Korea with the Moscow Symphony and performed recitals and chamber music in the United States, Brazil, Austria, and Switzerland.
His first CD entitled “Martha Argerich Presents Evgeny Brakhman” was released in 2002 by EMI Classics and was awarded the Diapason d’Or by France’s Diapason magazine. His next CD, a live recording from the Lugano Festival, was released by EMI in 2003. Evgeny Brakhman is a member of the faculty of the Nizhny Novgorod State Glinka Conservatory.
In his own words…
“It is truly an honor for me to play the music by composers of great genius. Their art is immortal, but only in the hands of a performer. What a responsibility! And what a joy!”