Alexei Lubimov

Alexei Lubimov was born in Moscow in 1944, and began his musical training at the Central Music School. Lubimov made his concert debut with an orchestra in Moscow at the age of 12. Beginning in 1963, he attended the Moscow Conservatory where he was one of the last students of Heinrich Neuhaus. He won First Prize at the All-Russian Piano Competition when he was 16 and was also a prize-winner at international competitions in Rio de Janeiro and Montreal.  

Lubimov made his mark as a champion of contemporary composers in 1968, when he gave the Moscow debuts of works by John Cage and Terry Riley. From then on his career was slowed down by the ideological censorship which prevailed in the former Soviet Union. Between 1968-75, he premiered compositions by Russian composers such as Schnittke, Gubaidulina, and Silvestrov, as well as by Schoenberg, Webern, Ives, and Ligeti. In 1988, he founded the Moscow avant-garde festival "Alternativa".

In the 1980's, Lubimov devoted a great deal of his time to authentic instruments and became an outstanding performer and specialist in that field. He formed the Moscow Baroque Quartet and pioneered harpsichord and fortepiano performances in the USSR, and he also founded a baroque ensemble, the Moscow Chamber Academy with Tatiana Grindenko.

Since 1987, Lubimov has performed outside Russia appearing throughout Europe, America, and Japan, including recitals in Amsterdam, Oslo, and London. He has appeared with such orchestras as the Moscow and Saint Petersburg Philharmonic, Helsinki Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, London’s Royal Philharmonic, BBC Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, Toronto Symphony, Tokyo Symphony, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Wiener Akademie, Netherlands Chamber Orchestra etc. He has participated in numerous festivals: Lockenhaus, Menuhin Festival Gstaad, Salzburg Festival, Berliner, Festwochen, Carinthian Summer, La Roque d'Anthéron, etc.

Lubimov has performed with such conductors as Vladimir Ashkenazy, Kyrill Kondrashin, David Oistrakh, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Charles Mackerras, Marek Janowski, Neeme Järvi, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Frans Brüggen, etc. He often performs chamber music with Natalia Gutman, Heinrich Schiff, Christian Tetzlaff, and Andreas Staier. He also frequently collaborates as pianist for German tenor Peter Schreier.

Lubimov was recently named to the faculty of the renowned Mozarteum in Salzburg. His recordings include over 30 discs, recorded in the 1970's and 80's, for the Russian label Melodia; the complete Mozart Sonatas on fortepiano, and works by Schubert, Chopin, Beethoven, and Brahms for Erato; and 20th century music for BIS and Sony.

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