Alexander Boldachev
Alexander Boldachev () (born January 21, 1990), also known as Sasha Boldachev, is a music composer, arranger, teacher and virtuoso harpist based in Zurich, Switzerland. He is a recipient of the 2018 Aoyama Music Award in Japan. Boldachev has received multiple awards for his music in the USA, Japan, England, Italy, Switzerland, Belgium, Bulgaria, Russia and France. Boldachev is also a guest soloist at Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow and an official artist of Salvi Harps. He is the founder of the "Zurich Harp Festival" and holds dual citizenship in Russia and Switzerland. Early life and education. Boldachev was born in  1990, in Saint Petersburg, Russia, to Irina Sharapova and . His mother is a professor at Saint Petersburg Conservatory, Merited Artist of the Russian Federation and his father is a philosopher and futurologist, specializing in the blockchain and Semantic System. Boldachev entered Saint Petersburg Conservatory in 1997 to study the harp under Karina Maleeva and musical composition under Svetlana Lavrova. In 2005, Boldachev moved to Zurich and attended Zurich University of the Arts where he received degrees in harp performance, composition and conducting under & Sarah O’Brien, Mathias Steinauer & Felix Profos and respectively. Career. Boldachev started learning piano at an early age  of three under the guidance of his mother. He mastered harp and piano by 1996 when he was six years old and composed his first musical piece in the same year. In late 1996, Boldachev started his solo career with a performance at "Children's Christmas Festival" in Saint Petersburg where he opened the festival with the composition written specially for him by Sergei Slonimsky. Boldachev had his solo debut with the Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra in 1999 and performed George Frideric Handel's Harp Concerto in Vilnius. In 2000, he participated in the World Harp Congress and won his  first award on Felix Godefroid Harp Competition. In 2001, he began training under French harpist Catherine Michel in Paris. In 2003, Boldachev was awarded by "Britain's Brilliant Prodigies", becoming the first non-British contestant to receive this award. In late 2005, he was awarded with the European Cultural Foundation's "" for his achievements in the field of music and culture. The award was presented by then President of Austria, Heinz Fischer. Boldachev has performed at numerous international festivals including Burning Man, Gstaad Festival, Spoleto Music Festival, Davos Festival, Festival Musical Olympus, Mozart+, Bravo Award and projects of Moscow International  House of Music and Saint Petersburg Music House. Since 2015, he is a member of the jury of the Russian international music competition, "Nota Bene". Boldachev collaborated with Kirill Serebrennikov, a Russian theatre director, in 2016, for the stage play, "A Poem Without a Hero" as a composer, music director and performer with Alla Demidova at Gogol Center, Moscow. In 2017, Boldachev became an invited soloist at the Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow and performed at multiple events under the conducting of Tugan Sokhiev including the harp performance during the premiere of the ballet, "Nureyev" based on Rudolf Nureyev's life. The  same year, Boldachev was signed on by Salvi Harps, an Italian manufacturer of concert harps, as their official artist for classical as well as electroacoustic instruments. In 2018, Boldachev performed solo concerts and gave master classes at various European, American and Asian universities including Juilliard School, Royal Academy of Music and The Royal Conservatory of Music. During 2018 FIFA World Cup opening ceremony, Boldachev shared the stage with Robbie Williams and Aida Garifullina while performing a harp solo of his own composition. Music style and composition. Boldachev's style of music is based on the expansion of the harp repertoire  with the fusion of classical music and interpretation of popular modern music. Boldachev has released two solo albums and has contributed to various chamber music albums. He has composed over thirty original harp pieces and transcribed more than a hundred sheet music for harps. Boldachev associated with the Russian violinist, Alexander Kuznetsov, and formed a music duo, "Game of Tones". They were awarded with the Swiss Prix Walo awards in 2015 for their music.