Alexei Sultanov

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Alexei Sultanov (7 August 1969–30 June 2005) was a Russian classical pianist.

He was most famous for winning the Eighth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 1989, at the age of 19. He was the youngest competitor in that year's competition. Listeners were awed by the volume he was able to generate. After winning the Van Cliburn, he made appearances on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and Late Night with David Letterman. His father was a cellist and his mother was a violinist. At the age of 6, he began piano lessons in Tashkent with Tamara Popovich. In October 1995 Alexei won second prize at the International Frederick Chopin Piano Competition; the grand prize was not awarded. Even after a severe stroke in 2001 paralyzed his left side, Sultanov continued to play the piano with his right hand with his wife, Dace Abele, accompanying him with the left hand. He died June 30, 2005 at the age of 35 in Fort Worth.