It is dedicated to Lev Naumov

People’s Artist of Russia, Yuri Rozum, was born in Moscow into a family of musicians. His teachers at the Moscow Conservatory were Professors L.Naumov and Y.Malinin—both assistants of the legendary Heinrich Neuhaus and renowned artists and teachers in their own right.

Although Rozum was selected in 1975 to participate in the Queen Elizabeth Piano Competition in Brussels, the Soviet authorities refused permission for religious and political reasons, and it was not until six years later when he was allowed to travel abroad to take part in international competitions. He was a prizewinner of the Queen Sofia International Piano Competition in Madrid in 1979; won First Prize and the Gold Medal at the Barcelona International Piano Competition in 1980; Gold Medal at the Pleven International Laureate Festival in 1983; and was a top prizewinner at the Tokyo International Music Competition (1983), the Montreal International Music Competition (1984), and others.

He has performed solo recitals and concerts with leading orchestras in such prestigious halls as the Grand Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall, the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, the Teatro Real in Madrid, the Palau de la Musica in Barcelona, the Bunka Kaikan in Tokyo, the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, and many others.

His first recording featured works by Albeniz and De Falla (Melodiya Records) and was made after he won the Hazem-Yamaha Prize for the best interpretation of Spanish Music. Since then, Rozum has made numerous recordings of solo works by Liszt, Chopin, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov (Mediaphon, Germany); concerto recordings, including Rachmaninov’s 1st and 2nd Concerti and Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini (Mediaphon), and Beethoven’s 3rd Piano Concerto and Tchaikovsky’s 1st Piano Concerto (Move, Australia). He recently recorded the Tchaikovsky Piano Trio for the Haenssler label with the Trio Passionata, of which he is a member.

In addition to his career as a soloist, Yuri Rozum regularly leads master classes at the University of Oregon, Portland University, Springfield University, and Connecticut College in the US; and at Monash University in Melbourne (Australia) and the Fischer Music Academy (Germany), where he was Professor of Piano. Rozum is a juror of international music competitions in Russia, as well as the Seiler International Piano Competition (Germany).

Future engagements include recitals at the Seiler Festival; Bechstein recitals; appearances with the Springfield Philharmonic (USA); a tour of Australia; and, in 2004, a tour of the USA with the Moscow RTV Orchestra, organized by Columbia Artists Management Inc.. Rozum’s regular festival appearances include the “Russian Winter” and “Christmas Evenings” Festivals (both in Moscow and organized by the Russian Cultural Foundation); Rheingau Music Festival (Germany), Colorado Music Festival (USA), Melbourne Festival (Australia), Portland Piano Seria (USA), and others.