Mikhail Pletnev

Pletnev’s performances and recordings have shown him to be an outstanding interpreter of an extensive repertoire, both as pianist and conductor. The London Telegraph remarked, "from Pletnev's fingers and brain come ideas that vitalise the music and make it teem with freshness and wit. [He] made the music positively leap for joy." The Times describes his playing as "born of a prodigious virtuosity of imagination outrageous in its beauty."

Pletnev’s recordings have earned numerous prizes, including a 2005 Grammy Award for his own arrangement, for two pianos, of Prokofiev’s Cinderella, with Martha Argerich and Pletnev at the keyboards. He received Grammy nominations for recordings of Schumann’s Symphonic Etudes (2004) and the Rachmaninov and Prokofiev Piano Concertos No. 3 with the RNO and conductor Mstislav Rostropovich (2003). His critically acclaimed album of Scarlatti’s Keyboard Sonatas (Virgin/EMI) received a 1996 Gramophone Award. BBC Music Magazine called the recording "piano playing at its greatest... this performance alone would be enough to secure Pletnev a place among the greatest pianists ever known." His recording of the complete Beethoven symphonies and piano concertos (Deutsche Grammophon) was named “Best of 2007” by The New Yorker.

Pletnev's compositions include works for orchestra, piano, strings and voices. His transcriptions for piano of Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite and Sleeping Beauty were selected, along with his performance of Tchaikovsky's Second Piano Concerto and The Seasons, for the 1998 anthology Great Pianists of the 20th Century (Philips Classics).

The son of musician parents, Pletnev learned multiple instruments as a young child and entered the Moscow Conservatory as a teenager. Today he is one of Russia's most respected and influential artists. An advisor on Russia’s Cultural Council, Pletnev is a People’s Artist of Russia and frequently acclaimed for his contributions to Russia's artistic life, receiving Russia’s highest civilian honor in 2007 and 2019, and the Platonov Prize in 2014. Pianist, conductor, composer and cultural leader — all are significant facets of Mikhail Pletnev's life as an artist. Yet he considers himself, simply, a musician.