Vassily Primakov

Vassily Primakov was recently called “A pianist's pianist—he is a giant of the keyboard.” (Deseret News, Salt Lake City). Since the 2008 release of his recording of the Chopin Piano Concertos, Vassily Primakov has been hailed as a pianist of world class signifigance. Gramophone wrote "Primakov's empathy with Chopin's spirit could hardly be more complete”, and the American Record Guide stated "This is a great Chopin pianist. Primakov's timing is perfect.” MusicWeb-International called the CD "one of the great Chopin recordings of recent times. Primakov's interpretations of the two Chopin piano concertos combine grace and fire in the service of unflagging intensity. These are performances of extraordinary power and beauty.” In 1999, as a teen-aged prizewinner of the Cleveland International Piano Competition, Primakov was cited by Donald Rosenberg of the Cleveland Plain Dealer for his idiomatic mastery of the Chopin style: “Primakov once again played Chopin’s Sonata No. 3, showing why the jury awarded him the Chopin Prize. How many pianists can make a line sing as the 19-year-old Moscow native did on this occasion? The slow movement overflowed with dreamy lyricism shaped with a patient and colorful hand. Every poignant phrase took ethereal wing. Elsewhere the music soared with all of the turbulence and poetic vibrancy it possesses. We will be hearing much from this remarkable musician.”

Vassily Primakov was born in Moscow in 1979. He entered Moscow’s legendary Central Special Music School at the age of eleven as a pupil of Vera Gornostaeva. While in Russia, Mr. Primakov won First Prize in the Rachmaninoff International Young Artist Competition. At seventeen, after a summer at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, he came to New York to pursue studies at the Juilliard School with the noted pianist Jerome Lowenthal, himself a student of Alfred Cortot and Willam Kapell. At Juilliard Mr. Primakov won the William Petschek Piano Recital Award, which presented his debut recital at Alice Tully Hall. While a student at Juilliard, Mr. Primakov placed among the top two laureates of the Cleveland International Piano Competition, and won both the silver medal and the Audience Prize in the 2002 Gina Bachauer International Artists Piano Competition. Vassily Primakov began his American career after winning First Prize in the 2002 Young Concert Artists (YCA) International Auditions, an award which presented him in solo and concerto performances throughout the USA. In 2007, he was named the Classical Recording Foundation's Young Artist of the Year. Vassily Primakov's recordings for Bridge Records include Beethoven Sonatas (BRIDGE 9251), Chopin Concertos (BRIDGE 9278) Tchaikovsky's Grand Sonata, Op. 37 and The Seasons, Op. 37-bis (BRIDGE 9283), and a disc of Chopin Mazurkas (BRIDGE 9289). Upcoming recordings for Bridge include the 27 Mozart Piano Concertos with the Odense Symphony Orchestra. Primakov's latest recordings are Schumann's Carnaval, Kreisleriana, and Arabesque (BRIDGE 9300), and Antonín Dvořák's Piano Concerto, Op. 33 coupled with solo works by Dvořák (BRIDGE 9309).