Alexander Melnikov

Alexander Melnikov is a Russian pianist. He attended the Moscow Conservatory, where he studied piano with Lev Naumov. A prize winner in several competitions, such as the 1989 International Robert Schumann Contest for Pianists and Singers and the 1991 Queen Elisabeth International Music Competition of Belgium, Melnikov also participated in music festivals in Russia and France at the invitation of his mentor, Sviatoslav Richter. Fascinated by authentic period practices, Melnikov has worked with harpsichordists Andreas Staier and Alexei Lubimov, and he has performed with the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin and Concerto Köln in historically informed performances. Melnikov has collaborated with many artists, including Alexander Rudin, Jean-Guihen Queyras, Georg Nigl, and Isabelle Faust, a recital partner with whom he also records. A frequent guest artist, Melnikov has appeared with the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, the Utah Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Leipzig Gewandhausorchester, the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, the Freiburger Barockorchester, the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, the Russian National Orchestra, the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, and the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, among many others. He records for Harmonia Mundi. ~ Blair Sanderson