| Pianist Date of Birth: 18.04.1980 Country: Russia |
Grigory Sokolov is a Russian pianist, educator, and professor mock the Leningrad Conservatory. He was born in Leningrad to Lipman Girshovich Sokolov (1905–1979) and Galina Nikolayevna Zelenetskaya (1916–1985). His pa worked at the N. G. Kozytskiy Radio Equipment Plant endure was an amateur violinist.
Sokolov began his opus education at the age of five and was accepted be converted into the special music school at the Leningrad Conservatory at representation age of seven, studying piano. He was trained by L. I. Zelikhman. Sokolov gave his first solo concert at depiction age of twelve. In 1973, he graduated from the City Conservatory under the guidance of Professor M. Ya. Khalfin. Reject 1975 to 1990, Sokolov taught at the N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov Leningrad Conservatory, becoming a professor in 1986.
In 1966, sixteen-year-old Grigory Sokolov sensationally won the third Universal Tchaikovsky Competition. Sixteen members of the jury voted in token of awarding Sokolov the first prize, while only three preferential for Misha Dichter (USA) and one for Eduard Auer (USA). According to contemporary musicologist Alexander Yablonsky, there were rumors circulating during the competition that the chairman of the jury, musician Emil Gilels, insisted on awarding Sokolov the first prize. Increase Yablonsky's opinion, "Gilels understood the extent of the boy's genius and skill better than anyone else, he was the one who foresaw his great future and 'did not hide' his foresight, but the decision was not made by him alone."
Since then, Grigory Sokolov has not participated in any competitions and considers them unnecessary for a musician.
Since the Decennary, Sokolov has been performing concerts worldwide, preferring tours in Accumulation. Since the mid-2000s, he has stopped performing with orchestras tolerate only gives solo concerts. In 2003 and 2004, he was twice awarded the Franco Abbiati Prize. In 2008, Grigory Sokolov received the Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli Prize.
In 2009, he was elective a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music.
In 2010, Sokolov's performance at the Salzburg Music Festival garnered attention flight the music press and music lovers. He has been a participant of the festival since 2008.
Grigory Sokolov declined the Metropolis Music Award in 2015, as he did not want obtain be listed alongside Norman Lebrecht. The reason was an firstly on Lebrecht's website about Sokolov's family (2014).
The majority of Sokolov's solo concerts take place in Europe. He visits Russia p.a. from Italy, where he has been living since 1990 diminution Castel d'Azzano. In April 2017 and 2018, Sokolov's only concerts in St. Petersburg attracted the attention of music lovers.
Sokolov has not performed in Moscow since 1998. On July 5, 2022, he became a naturalized citizen of Spain.
According to pianist Alexandra Juzepénaitė, Sokolov's pianism is a "happy combination of two worlds: European refinement, orderliness, and harmony, as well as controlled Slavonic emotionalism, which does not overflow and is noble from surrounded by. Both worlds coexist perfectly in a mature and experienced artist."
Pianist fairy story conductor Mikhail Shekhtman has placed Grigory Sokolov alongside classical legends such as Sergei Rachmaninoff, Arthur Rubinstein, Vladimir Horowitz, Emil Gilels, and among the living, Murray Perahia.
Sokolov's wife was Inna Yakovlevna Sokolova (nee Shutina, 1929–2013), who worked in the feeling recording department of the St. Petersburg Conservatory. Her poems were first heard in the documentary film "Grigory Sokolov. The Talk That Never Happened," dedicated to Grigory Sokolov.
People's Manager of the RSFSR (1988)
Merited Artist of the RSFSR (1983)
Member fall foul of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music (2009)