ARTISTIC ACHIEVEMENTS
Together with Andreas Staier, Alexander Melnikov developed a programme that sets excerpts from Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier (Andreas Staier – harpsichord) in musical dialogue with Shostakovich's 24 Preludes and Fugues (Alexander Melnikov – piano).
In the 2016/17 season Alexander Melnikov’s will be on tour with his project “The Man with the Many Pianos”, where he performs a solo recital on three different instruments reflecting the periods in which the works were written.
PERFORMANCES
Melnikov performs regularly with such distinguished period ensembles as the Freiburger Barockorchester, Concerto Köln, Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin and Orchestre des Champs-Élysées.
As a soloist, Alexander Melnikov has performed with orchestras including the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Philadelphia Orchestra, NDR Sinfonieorchester, HR-Sinfonieorchester, Russian National Orchestra, Munich Philharmonic, Rotterdam Philharmonic, BBC Philharmonic and the NHK Symphony. Next to concerts with the Orchestre National de Belgique, the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, Musica Aeterna and the Orquestra Sinfonica do Estado de Sao Paulo he continues his collaboration with Camerata Salzburg, Seattle Symphony Orchestra and as a Artistic partner with Tapiola Sinfonietta. Under conductors such as Mikhail Pletnev, Teodor Currentzis, Charles Dutoit, Paavo Järvi, Philippe Herreweghe and Valery Gergiev. Intensive chamber music collaborations with partners including cellists Alexander Rudin and Jean-Guihen Queyras, as well as the baritone Georg Nigl, also form an essential part of Melnikov’s work.
Further highlights include a residence at Palais des Beaux-Arts Brussel and recitals at London Wigmore Hall, Cité de la Musique Paris, Muziekgebouw aan’t Ij Amsterdam, de Singel Antwerpen and Palau de la Música Catalana Barcelona.
HONOURS AND AWARDS
He was awarded important prizes at such eminent competitions as the International Robert Schumann Competition in Zwickau (1989) and the Concours Musical Reine Elisabeth in Brussels (1991).
Melnikov’s recording of the Preludes and Fugues by Shostakovich was awarded the BBC Music Magazine Award, Choc de classica and the Jahrespreis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik. In 2011, it was also named by the BBC Music Magazine as one of the “50 Greatest Recordings of All Time.”
RECORDINGS
Andreas Staier and Alexander Melnikov recently recorded a unique all-Schubert programme of four-hand pieces, which they have also performed in concert. Alexander Melnikov’s association wth the label harmonia mundi arose through his regular recital partner, violinist Isabelle Faust, and in 2010 their complete recording of the Beethoven sonatas for violin and piano won both a Gramophone Award and Germany’s ECHO Klassik Prize. This CD, which has become a touchstone recording for these works, was also nominated for a Grammy. Their most recent release features the Brahms sonatas for violin and piano.
Additionally, his discography features works by Brahms, Rachmaninoff, Schostakowitsch and Scriabin. Melnikov recorded a trilogy of CDs featuring the Schumann Concertos and Trios; the second installment, featuring the Piano Concerto and the Piano Trio No. 2, was released in September 2015. In November 2016 his new CD will come out featuring works of Prokofiev.
EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCES
Alexander Melnikov graduated from the Moscow Conservatory under Lev Naumov. His most formative musical moments in Moscow include his early encounter with Svjatoslav Richter, who thereafter regularly invited him to festivals in Russia and France.
Known for his often-unusual musical and programmatic decisions, Alexander Melnikov discovered a career-long interest in historically-informed performance practice at an early age. His major influences in this field include Andreas Staier and Alexei Lubimov.
