"Lubimov's instrument...played once by Mozart himself...comes to life when played with the musicality and sense of fantasy displayed by this remarkable pianist."

Hugh Canning
The Sunday Times

Biography

Born in Moscow, Russian pianist Alexei Lubimov is counted among today’s most outstanding pianists. His wide repertoire, dedication to principles and musical morals make him a most welcome exception on the music scene today

He attended the Moscow Conservatory and was one of the last students of Heinrich Neuhaus, where he established an early passion for both baroque music - particularly when performed on traditional instruments – and 20th Century composers such as Schönberg, Webern, Stockhausen, Boulez, Ives, Ligeti, Schnittke, Gubaidulina, Silvestrov and Pärt. In 1968, he performed the Moscow debuts of works by John Cage and Terry Riley. In the 1970s, his career was slowed down by the ideological censorship that prevailed in the former Soviet Union. It was during this period that he founded the Moscow Baroque Quartet, where he was able to pioneer harpsichord and fortepiano performances in the USSR. In 1988, he founded the Moscow avant-garde festival “Alternativa.”

During the 1980’s when political restrictions were gradually disappearing in Russia, Alexei Lubimov was able to step onto the world stage, giving concerts throughout Europe, America and Japan. He has appeared with orchestras such as the Helsinki, Israel, Los Angeles, Munich and St. Petersburg Philharmonic, the Royal Philharmonic London, the BBC Symphony, the Russian National Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the Toronto Symphony, the Deutsches Symphonieorchester Berlin, Tokyo Symphony, and more. In 1998, Mr. Lubimov made a European tour with the Finnish Radio Orchestra under the baton of Jukka Pekka Saraste, where he performed the four piano concertos of Rachmaninoff. Additionally, he has participated in a numerous festivals, among them: Lockenhaus, Menuhin Festival Gstaad, Salzburg Festival, Berliner, Festwochen, La Roque d’Anthéron, etc.

Lubimov has performed with conductors such as Vladimir Ashkenazy, Neeme Järvi, David Oistrakh, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Marek Janowski, Christopher Hogwood, Sir Roger Norrington, Frans Brüggen, David Robertson, Andrey Boreyko, Ivan Fischer, Kent Nagano, Yan Pascal Tortelier, and many others.

He is also a champion of chamber music and performs often with famous soloists such as Natalia Gutman, Christian Tetzlaff, and Andreas Staier.

In recent seasons he has played concerts with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the RNO Moscow and the Austrian Tonkünstlerorchester (including two concerts in the great hall of the Musikverein) as well as numerous solo performances. At the Salzburg Festival in 2003 and in Copenhagen, he performed orchestra concerts with “Prometeus” by Scriabin. In 2004-05 he performed with orchestras such as the Orchestra of the Age of the Enlightenment (Beethoven), the Munich Philharmonic (Silvestrov), the SWR Stuttgart (Pärt), the DSO Berlin (Pärt), the Danish National Symphony Orchestra (Pärt), Anima Eterna Brugge, and the RNO Moscow. In 2005-06, he returned to America as a special guest at the International Piano Festival in Houston, Texas. This spring, he performed on a tour of the eastern United States with the Camerata Salzburg. In August 2006, he will return to the U.S. as part of Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival.

Alexei Lubimov has recorded on various labels such as Melodia, Erato, BIS and Sony, which features the complete Mozart sonatas, Schubert, Chopin, Beethoven, Brahms as well as music from the 20th Century. He was recently featured on Arvo Pärt’s Lamentate from ECM Records. His upcoming chamber music CD for ECM Records this fall will feature works by Silvestrov, Ustvolskaya and Pärt.

April 2006
Please discard all previously printed materials.

Exerpts from the Press

"...brisk, free of cinematic sentiment...he gives the illusion of keeping strict time while subtly pushing and pulling at tempos... After all, this is what Mozart is about".

Bernard Holland
The New York Times

"...Lubimov proved himself a flexible, inspired partner. For him, selfless following obviously is no more fruitful than aggressive leading. The versatile Muscovite did his own Romantic singing at the keyboard - always warm and sympathetic, virtuousic yet understated, assertive yet poetic. Don't call him an accompanist."

Martin Bernheimer
Los Angeles Times
January 1995

"In familiar Liszt and Chopin, Lubimov offered more imaginative faithfulness than I have heard in some time, different in innumerable details from the "standard" readings. But every time one thought, "Now, there's something you couldn't do on a modern grand!" It was also something that perhaps only Lubimov would have thought of doing anyway. The sound never seemed miniaturised: the third and fourth Chopin Ballades rose to glorious climaxes, and the three members of the audience who left before the encores missed a magnificent Barcarolle."

David Murray
The Financial Times (London)
May 1993

"...absolutely beautiful...he shows a real command of what that sort of instrument can give you in the way articulation and shaping."

Nicholas Kenyon
BBC Radio 3 Record Review
January 1992

"...quite a revelation...Lubimov brings a big, modern technique to bear on these (Mozart) sonatas...K533's marvelous first movement has lots of incredible, rich counterpoint and tremendous harmonic twists which Lubimov makes the most of...the slow movement, too, is really superb where he builds up the phrases and sequences architecturally with careful timing..."

Stanley Sadie
BBC Radio 3 Record Review
January 1992

"Lubimov's instrument...played once by Mozart himself...comes to life when played with the musicality and sense of fantasy displayed by this remarkable pianist."

Hugh Canning
The Sunday Times

"Genuine, captivating Chopin dramatics!"

Folke G‰rsbeck
Hufvudstadabladet, Helsinki

"The solo part of the C Major Concerto (KV 467) by Mozart was played by Lubimov with such expressiveness that even the connoisseurs of that work could only marvel at it and adore it. He translates Mozart's score into such a captivating interpretation that you simply don't think about other possibilities. The inborn musicality, combined with an extremely sharp intellect, is not all that fascinates in this exceptional talent. To be added is a brilliant technique and a touch, capable of enticing the most eloquent effects from the instrument. This was once more evidenced in a deeply touching way, recalling into one's consciousness all the clair-obscure of the Fantasy in d minor (KV 397) of the Viennese maestro, which this highly sympathetic and modest artist offered as a way of saying thanks for the enthusiastic applause."

Karl-Heinz Friebel
Weimar

"The music really catches life in his hands: even the simplest tones start talking and to speak."

Hannu Wuorela
Turun Sanomat
Turku, Finland

"Alexei Lubimov demonstrated with Chopin's Ballade in g minor how beautiful an Erard grand from 1850 can sound."

Wolfgang Lemperid
Die Welt
Berlin, Germany

"With small musical details and an excellent musical execution, Lubimov brought the work (Mozart KV 595) to life, joyfully and brilliantly."

Jouko Koskela
Aamulehti
Tampere, Finland

"...Lubimov always surprises. His musical thinking is clear like crystal and always inspired. He posesses a rare gift; he can transplant the musical ideas of the composer into reality. He is a genius without the aura of a genius."

Seppo Kallio
Turun Sanomat
Finland