nationality birth_date known_for image article_title name occupation
russian 1980 van cliburn international piano competition winner , 2005 aleksandr evgen ` evič kobrin.jpg alexander kobrin
 alexander kobrin pianist
alexander kobrin

alexander kobrin -lrb- Александр Кобрин , born 1980 in moscow -rrb- is a russian pianist .
at age five , he enrolled in the gnessin special school of music in moscow where his primary teacher was tatiana zelikman .
when he turned eighteen , he enrolled at the moscow tchaikovsky conservatory , as a student of the legendary teacher , lev naumov , and he holds a graduate degree from that institution .
as a teenager kobrin won several youth piano competitions , but he won his first adult competition , the scottish international piano competition when he was 18 .
the next year , in 1999 , he won the busoni competition , after several years in which the first prize had not been awarded because no competitor 's performances had been deemed worthy .
in 2000 , the year yundi li was the winner , kobrin was third at the international chopin piano competition in warsaw , and li says that one of his favorite memories of the competition occurred at the awards ceremony , when kobrin lifted him in celebration of his victory .
kobrin later tied for second prize , with no first awarded , at japan 's hamamatsu competition together with rafal blechacz .
in june 2005 he won the van cliburn international piano competition .
among his prizes included a $ 20,000 cash award , a compact disc recording , concert tours and professional management both in the united states and europe , a professional attire stipend and subsidized travel in the united states .
even before his cliburn victory , kobrin maintained an extensive schedule of engagements in europe and asia .
he has performed with the moscow virtuosi , the orchestre de la suisse romande , the virtuosi of salzburg chamber orchestra , the moscow state symphony orchestra , the rio de janeiro symphonic orchestra , the english chamber orchestra , and the osaka and tokyo symphony orchestras .
kobrin is especially interested in the music of the classical and romantic periods .
he has recorded an all-chopin compact disc along with the compact disc of some of his performances at the van cliburn competition .
kobrin formerly taught at the gnessin state academy of music in moscow , but in the fall of 2009 he relocated to the united states .
he currently teaches at the schwob school of music at columbus state university and the steinhardt school at new york university .
alexander kobrin is a yamaha artist .
