Alexei Joins the ‘Key Club’ of Star Pianists With New York City Event leading to Five Encores

Published
07/10/2023 by

Star pianist Alexei Tartakovsky performed at the legendary Merkin Hall in New York City.  His performance at Merkin Hall was a masterclass in piano recitals including a repertoire with classical pieces from Beethoven, Schumann and Rachmaninoff.  The first half of the concert lasted nearly an hour and his finale received a repeated standing ovation which led to him returning to the stage no less than five times to play to his audience.

Laureate of the 2021 International Beethoven Competition in Bonn, Germany, Russian-American pianist Alexei Tartakovsky has been called a “fantastic musician and pianist” by Martha Argerich and “truly exceptional…superb playing…a thoughtful and serious musician” by the New York Concert Review.  His tonal palette, profound musicianship, superb technique, and exciting artistic approach have thrilled audiences worldwide and established him as one of the brightest talents of his generation.

He first brought attention to his artistry by winning three top prizes in a one-year span (2006-2007) at the Rolf and Brigitte Gardey International Competition in Daytona Beach, Florida, The New York Piano Competition, and the American Fine Arts Festival (AFAF) in New York, which resulted in his performing at Weill Recital Hall (Carnegie Hall).

Immediately after, he became a laureate of the James Mottram International Piano Competition in Manchester (UK) and received 1st prize at the Heida Hermanns International Piano Competition, which he won with unanimous decision by the judges, who called him a “phenomenal, first-rate pianist” and “a monumental talent”.  Additional prizes include 1st prize at the New York Concert Artists International Competition in 2011.  In 2012, he swept all three prizes at the San Jose International Competition: 1st Prize, Audience Prize, and prize for the best performance of a Russian work.

Since then, he has given concerts both solo and with orchestra in the USA, Canada, Mexico, Russia, Europe, China, and Japan at halls that include the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, the Warsaw Philharmonic, Yokohama Minato Mirai Hall, and Carnegie Hall.  His playing has been broadcast on Dutch Radio 4, Polish Radio 2, Russian Radio Orpheus, Chicago’s WFMT, and New York's WQXR.  Among the orchestras Tartakovsky has performed with are the Jacksonville Symphony, the North Czech Philharmonic, the Beethoven Orchestra Bonn (Germany), and the Symphonic Orchestra of the Voronezh Concert Hall (Russia).  Conductors Tartakovsky has collaborated with include Gerard Schwarz, Hans Graf, Fabio Mechetti, Nurhan Arman, Maurice Peress, Yuri Androsov, and Clark Rundell.

A highlight of his career was his outstanding performance at the 2015 Chopin International Competition in Warsaw, where he was a semifinalist.  In 2016, Tartakovsky was awarded the French Prize at the Cleveland International Piano Competition.  In 2021, he received both the 2nd Prize and the Deutsche Telekom StreamOn Beethoven Award at the International Telekom Beethoven Competition in Bonn, Germany. 

Among the musicians he has studied with are Matti Raekallio, Nina Lelchuk, Boris Slutsky, Boris Berman, and Horacio Gutierrez.  Tartakovsky completed his undergraduate studies at Juilliard and Queens College (CUNY), received his Master of Music degree from the Peabody Conservatory, and an Artist Diploma from the Yale School of Music.  He is currently a doctoral candidate as a student of Richard Goode at The Graduate Center of the City University of New York, where he was awarded the coveted Graduate Center Fellowship.

Tartakovsky teaches at Brooklyn College (CUNY), is Music Director at Church of the Holy Spirit in Lebanon, New Jersey, and maintains a private studio in Raritan, New Jersey.