Denis Leonidovich Matsuev PAR(Дени́с Леони́дович Мацу́ев; born June 11, 1975) is a Russian pianist, one of the most popular classical music performers of his generation, the winner of the International Tchaikovsky Competition in 1998 in Moscow [1], laureate of esteemed Shostakovich Prize in Music and State Prize of Russian Federation in Literature and Arts. Today the name of Denis Matsuev is known to the whole world. The man, whose career started so dramatically and in such a young age, is now associated with one of the best world pianists, who managed to mix in his performances the grandest of Russian traditions and innovatory creative conceptions, high quality of concert programmes and moving rendering.
Contents |
Matsuev was born in Irkutsk, Russian Federation, in a family of musicians; thus, the boy was surrounded by music from the very childhood. His mother was a piano teacher, and his father was a well-known pianist, composer and administrator of the drama theatre in Irkutsk Oblast, and his two absolutely amazing grandmothers would frequently play duets on the piano filling the house with music and love. Once when Matsuev was 3 years old, having heard a melody on television Denis went to the piano and reproduced the melody precisely with one finger. His father was his first music teacher. By the age of 15, Matsuev studied in a music school in Irkutsk. He also loved to play hockey and football as a child, and he broke his arm twice, which had no effect on his further playing.
In 1990 Matsuev moved to Moscow with his parents to continue his education there. In Moscow he studied at the Central Musical School under the Conservatory. In 1991 he happened to become a laureate of the International Charity Foundation "New Names" programme and played on tour in more than 40 countries. In 1993 he took part for the first time in an international piano competition in South Africa where he was awarded the first prize. In the same year he entered the Moscow Conservatory as a student of Professor Nasedkin and later Professor Dorensky. In 1995 he became a soloist with the Moscow State Philharmonic.
Winning the International Tchaikovsky Competition in 1998 at an age of 23 was the turning point in his career. At the present moment Mr. Matsuev has given a great number of recitals at the most significant and well-known concert halls throughout the world.
The majority of the world's best known orchestras find it a great luck to cooperate with Denis Matsuev. Moscow State Symphony Orchestra, The New York Philharmonic, Orchestre National de France, Chicago Symphony, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, London Symphony and Philharmonic, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Bavarian Radio Symphony, Orchestra Filarmonica della Scala, National Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, WDR Symphony Cologne, BBC Symphony, Philharmonia orchestra of London, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Orchestre de Paris, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic, the European Chamber Orchestra and Helsinki Philharmoni are among them. Apart from that, Mr.Matsuev is connected by long-lasting close collaboration with the legendary Russian orchestras such as the Russian National Orchestra, the St. Petersburg Philharmonic and the Mariinsky Orchestra. Forthcoming seasons announce appearing with the London Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra with James Conlon, Verbier Festival Orchestra and Zurich Opera House Orchestra with Valery Gergiev, Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and Antonio Pappano, Philharmonia of London and Leif Segerstam, Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra and Krzysztof Urbanski, Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra with Paavo Jarvi, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and Yuri Temirkanov, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra with Manfred Honeck, Rotterdam Philharmonic, WDR Symphony and Oslo Philharmonic with Jukka-Pekka Saraste, NHK Symphony and Philadelphia Symphony with Gianandrea Noseda, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and James Gaffigan.
Matsuev embarked on a concertising career touring the main concert venues of the world[2] and now plays together with the most prominent conductors such as Evgeny Svetlanov, Vladimir Spivakov, Valery Gergiev, Claudio Abbado, Zubin Mehta, Mariss Jansons, Yuri Temirkanov, Kurt Masur, Paavo Järvi, Leonard Slatkin, Myung-Whun Chung, Antonio Pappano, Semyon Bychkov, Ivan and Adam Fisher, Gianandrea Noseda, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, James Conlon, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Tugan Sokhiev, Mikhail Pletnev and others.
Mr. Matsuev is an inveterate guest of the greatest musical festivals such as BBC Proms and Edinburgh International Festival in GB, Ravinia Festival and Hollywood Bowl in the USA, Schleswig-Holstein, Rheingau, Festspielhaus Baden-Baden in Germany, Chopin Festival in Poland, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and Mito Festival in Italy, Les Choregies d’Orange and Festival de la Rogue d’Antheron in France, Verbier and Montreux Festivals in Switzerland, Enescu Festival in Romania, Budapest Spring Festival in Hungary, Athens and Epidaurus Festival in Greece and Stars of the White Nights Festival in Russia. In October 2008 Alexander Rachmaninoff, the grandson of the well-known composer, personally invited Denis Matsuev to take the post of Artistic Director of the Sergei Rachmaninoff Foundation which obliges him to perform in a series of gala concerts at some of the most outstanding concert halls throughout Europe and the USA. Besides, he frequently gives recitals at such prestigious concert halls as Carnegie Hall[3] in North America, Eglise de Verbier in frames of Verbier Festival, Martin Theatre of Chicago in frames of Ravinia Festival, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Theatre des Champs Elysees in Paris, Finnish National Opera House, Hercules Hall in Munich and lots of others. Mr. Matsuev is Artistic Director of Annecy Festival Estival & Academies in Annecy, France and other international events held in many different cities like Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Tel Aviv, Kaliningrad, Paris and New York City. He is also the organizer of three important International Festivals, two of which are held in Russia. They are "Stars on Baikal"[4], his musical gift to his homeland and Baikal, and the other one is Crescendo Festival in Russia, which was first held in Moscow in 2005 and then in Saint Petersburg in 2006. These outstanding festivals present a new generation of gifted soloists from around the world performing with the best Russian orchestras. The “Crescendo” festival[5] has had great resonance in Russia and abroad. Apart from that, Mr. Matsuev is the president of the charitable Russian foundation “New Names”[6] that supports children music education in regions of Russia.
Matsuev also plays jazz piano music. He was the first pianist to perform a jazz concert at Moscow Conservatory.
As a part of his partnership with the Sergei Rachmaninoff Foundation, Mr. Matsuev performs and records unknown pieces of Rachmaninoff on the composer's own piano at the Rachmaninoff house “Villa Senar” in Lucerne. This unique programme has been accepted delightedly by the audience and now it enjoys success throughout the whole world. In December 2007, Sony BMG (RCA Red Seal Records) released a disc named “Unknown Rachmaninoff” featuring Denis Matsuev, which has received very positive comments of the audience praising his technical skills and creativity. The recital at Carnegie Hall in November 2007 was released in 2008 as an album entitled “Denis Matsuev – Concert at Carnegie Hall[7]”. And so he won critical acclaim in The New York Times[8], who wrote: “His poetic instincts held fast in tender moments, with trills as thrillingly precise as one might ever hope to hear.” In December 2009, the new Mariinsky Label released Rachmaninoff Concerto No. 3[9], which was performed by Denis Matsuev together with Valery Gergiev and the Mariinsky Orchestra in the Mariinsky Concert Hall in St. Petersburg, Russia.