Tigran Alikhanov

Tigran Alikhanov was born in Moscow and studied at the Moscow Conservatory’s Special Music School with Professor Anait Sumbatian (whose students include Vladimir Ashkenazy, Vladimir Krainev, Oksana Yablonskaya, and many others). In 1961, he entered the Moscow Conservatory, and received his undergraduate and graduate degrees in the class of the renowned pedagogue and performer, Lev Oborin.

Alikhanov’s prize-winning performance at the 1967 Margaret Long International Competition in Paris marked the beginning of his international career. Over the past 30 years, he has given hundreds of recitals in all the major centers of the former Soviet Union, including Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Riga, Tallinn, Vilnius, Yerevan, and Tbilisi. Alikhanov’s concert tours have also taken him to Bulgaria, Hungary, the Czech and Slovak Republics, France, Italy, Austria, USA, Republic of South Africa, and Greece. But it is his native city that has figured most prominently in his career. Alikhanov’s more than 50 solo recitals in Moscow’s most important venues have included some 25 all-Beethoven (his favorite composer) programs, as well as concerts dedicated to the works of Mozart, Schubert, and Chopin.

Considered one of the keepers of the Russian school of piano playing, Tigran Alikhanov has collaborated with such distinguished artists as Alexander Rudin, Valentin Feygin, Ivan Monighetti; pianists Nikolai Petrov, Alexey Lyubimov; organist and pianist Ludmila Golub; with the Moscow and Shostakovich String Quartets, and the Ensemble of the Soloists of the Bolshoi Theatre. Alikhanov has also appeared as soloist under the batons of Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Mariss Jansons, Alexander Lazarev, Valery Poiyansky, Vladimir Verbitsky, Karol Striya, Louis Lane, and other prominent conductors.

In collaboration with numerous prominent artists and ensembles, he has performed chamber music concerts featuring both traditional and contemporary compositions, including a three-year cycle focusing on music of the 20th century. A champion of the music of our time, Alikhanov has introduced Moscow audiences to works by Boulez, Crumb, Durko, Kurtag, Banshchikov, Butsko, Knaifel, Smirnov, Firsova, and Mamisashvili, and has, through the years, been closely associated with Boulez, Kurtag, Oenisov, Schnittke, and other prominent contemporary composers.

Alikhanov has participated in the Russian premieres of such significant contemporary works as Messiaen’s “Turangalila” Symphony (Bratislava, 1984), the third “Bachianas Brasilieros” of Villa-Lobos (St. Petersburg, 1987), and Denisov’s Piano Quintet with the Moscow String Quartet at the International New Year Music Festival in Sofia (1989). With the same quartet, he gave the French premiere of the Quintet in March 1989 at the Chateau de Grignan Chamber Music Festival, the Italian premiere at the Trento Festival in the same year, and the French premiere of Taneyev’s Quintet in 1989 at the Salle Gaveau in Paris. Alikhanov has appeared at such contemporary music festivals as those of Tallinn, Krakow, “Moscow Autumn,” Modern Music Festival of St.Petersburg, Moscow Shostakovich Festival, and the Moscow “Alternative” Festival of Avant-Guard Music.

A teacher at the Moscow Conservatory since 1971 and Professor since 1989, Alinikhov’s students perform and teach in major cities throughout Russia and the former republics, as well as in Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Czechoslovakia, Poland, and Finland. Many of them have enjoyed success at international competitions: the duo, Zh.Aubakirova—G.Murzabekova, won the Second Prize at the Paris International Competition; and the I.Zheleznova—M.Zheleznov duo won Third Prize at the Belgrade International Competition (1989), First Prizes in the Hartford and Miami International Competitions (USA, 1990), and Second Prize in Caltanisetta (Italy, 1990).

In December 1985, Mr. Alikhanov was awarded the prize of the Hungarian Association “Artisjus,” and received the title “Honored Artist of the Russian Federation” a year later. Presently, he is the Head of Faculty at the Moscow Conservatory.