Vladimir Leonidovich Sverdlov-Ashkenazi

Vladimir Leonidovich Sverdlov-Ashkenazy ; born on July 21, 1976, Moscow is a Russian pianist and composer. 
== Family ==
Vladimir Sverdlov comes from a family of musicians. His grandfather David Ashkenazi was a pianist, accompanist and composer, People's Artist of the Russian Federation. His mother, Elena Ashkenazy, is a pianist and teaches piano at Musashino Academia Musicaein Tokyo. His uncle, Vladimir Ashkenazy|Vladimir Ashkenazy, is a famous pianist and conductor. His father, Leonid Sverdlov is a chess player, grandmaster, and a poet.
== Education ==
Vladimir Sverdlov studied at the Central Music School at the Moscow Conservatory under Professor Vladimir Krainev. At the age of 14, in 1990, became the winner of the Moscow City Piano Competition. He continued his education at the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover|Hannover Higher School of Music under Professor Arie Vardi.
== Career ==
At the age of 16, in 1992, Vladimir embarked on his first tour through Germany, accompanied by the Radio Frankfurt Orchestra conducted by Dmitry Kitayenko.
In 1993 Vladimir Sverdlov won the Grand Prix at the Citta di Senigallia International Competition in Italy.
In 1995 Vladimir made his Tel Aviv debut with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, performing Concerto No. 1 by Dmitri Shostakovich.
In 1997 Vladimir debuted with a solo recital at Tokyo's Suntory Hall.
In 1999 Vladimir was triumphant (Sixth Prize) at the Queen Elisabeth Competition|Queen Elizabeth Competition in 1999 in Brussels. His performance has garnered him a great acclaim among the public and led to many professional engagements. The music video of him performing the Franz Schubert Sonata in A-moll and Frédéric Chopin|Frederic Chopin Concerto No. 2 at the finale was included in the golden collection of the Arte TV channel. After this Vladimir starts actively touring the countries of Europe and Asia, performing at large venues and working with well-known conductors.
During this period, Sverdlov recorded his first album, consisting of compositions by Frederic Chopin, on the Belgian label Cypres. The album was released in the fall of 1999 and became a bestseller in the Benelux countries and in France. The release of the album was followed by performances with the renowned orchestras and conductors and taking part in festivals and events, such as La Roque d’Antheron, Progetto Martha Argerich, Palais Princiers de Monaco and Palaces of St. Petersburg. In 2000 Vladimir Sverdlov made his debut at the Great Hall of Concertgebouw, performing the Frederic Chopin Concert in F-moll (conducted by Martin Sieghart). As a soloist, he took the stage with the Orchestra of the Bolshoi Theatre|Bolshoi Theater (conducted by Alexander Vedernikov (bass singer)|Alexander Vedernikov), the Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra|Monte Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra (conducted by Gianluigi Gelmetti), the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (conducted by Arie Vardi), the Italian Swiss Orchestra Swizzera Italiana (conducted by Mikhail Pletnev). He performed with Mischa Maisky, Martha Argerich, Dora Schwarzberg, Ilya Grubert and others. Critics dubbed him one of the most excellent adepts of Russian piano school, hailing Sverdlov a “new Russian master” and comparing him to Vladimir Horowitz.
In 2006 Vladimir won the 14th International Monte-Carlo Piano Masters Competition.
In 2009 Vladimir Sverdlov first played several of his own compositions during his concert in Salle Gaveau in Paris.
In 2011 British music label “Piano classics” releases his album “Pictures at an Exhibition”, which includes several Vladimir's own works. In the accompanying materials to the album he was named Vladimir Sverdlov-Ashkenazy for the first time, which is intended to symbolize his incarnation not only as a pianist, but also as a composer.
In December 2013, the performance of his original Prelude and Fugue in C-moll has earned Vladimir Sverdlov-Ashkenazy the Manashir Yakubov Award "For Outstanding Mastery of Composing and Performing".
In April 2015 Vladimir Sverdlov-Ashkenazy took to the stage as a conductor, performing the Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Concerto in D-moll k.466 with the Moscow Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra an the Svetlanov Hall of the Moscow International House of Music.
In 2015 Vladimir Sverdlov-Ashkenazy tried himself in the improvisation jenre, creating new pieces on the spot in front of the audience. He embarked on several tours with the original project of piano improvisations, and had success with the audience. In March 2015 the composer presented the project "Reflection" in collaboration with theatre and film actor Georgy Taratorkin at the Small Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, in which Sverdlov-Ashkenazy played improvisations to Alexander Blok|Alexander's Blok poetry, which was named the high point of the Moscow cultural life in those days.
In 2019, Vladimir released his solo album "Vision Fugitive - Piano Creations", containing 15 original piano pieces. In the same year, his first video clip for the title composition of the album "Vision Fugitive" was released, claiming to be one of the first music videos shot for a piano piece, where Vladimir personally is represented as an author, actor and pianist.
In 2021 Vladimir presented a single composition release called "Mystery".
== Music ==
=== Discography ===
* Frédéric Chopin, Vladimir Sverdlov – "Piano Works"; CD, Cypres, 1999
* Modest Mussorgsky, Vladimir Sverdlov – "Modest Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition"; CD, Piano Classics, 2011
* Vladimir Sverdlov-Ashkenazy – "Vision Fugitive (Piano Creations)"; Digital, Pancher, 2019
* Vladimir Sverdlov-Ashkenazy – "Mystery"; Digital, Pancher, 2021
=== Video clips ===
Vision Fugitive — Pancher, 2019
=== Music for movies ===
*Sapsan, I Love You – Feature Film, 2012
*Good God! – Feature Film, 2012
*Birthday – Short Film, 2016.
*Girl with a Scythe – Feature Film, Epic Media, 2018
* Dina Rubina. On the Sunny Side – Documentary Film, AB-TV Production, 2019
=== Significant performances ===
* Prelude op. 9 for violin and piano, solo by Dmitry Kogan (violin) – performed at Festival de Menton, 2009
* Variations for Piano – performed at Festival de l'Athénée, Geneva, 2010
* Piano Sonata – performed at the Pianissimo Festival, Torredembarra, Spain, 2012
* Performance at the closing ceremony of the "Mirror" Film Festival named in honor of Andrei Tarkovsky, 2013
* "American Pictures", Fantasia for clarinet and piano – performed at the Chamber Hall of the Moscow International House of Music, 2013
* "Beautiful Mind", Septet – performed at the Chamber Hall of the Moscow International House of Music, 2014
* Burlesque – performed at the Seoul Arts Center, 2014
* Fantasy for piano and orchestra (in memory of David Ashkenazy) – performed at the Svetlanov Hall of the Moscow International House of Music, 2015
* Andante in Memory of Dmitry Kogan – performed at the Moscow Conservatory, 2018
* Romance, The Hope – both performed at The Organ Hall in Chisinau, 2018
* Ballade (in honor of Baron Arie Van Lysebeth) – performed at Flagey in Brussels, 2019
* Schumaniana (dedicated to Robert Schumann) – performed at the Wilhelm Kempf Academy in Positano, 2019
=== Sheet music publications ===
Fantasia op.11 for violin, viola and piano – Moscow Publishing House "Muzyka", 2010
== Social activities ==
Vladimir Sverdlov founded the Schwarzstein Arts Production Concert Association in Belgium and established the Chiba Festival (competition for young pianists in Japan) and the Moscow Art Center “Music With No Rules”.
Category:1976 births
Category:Russian pianists