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The pianist Alexej Lubimov, born in Moscow in 1944, is one of the most important pianists from the former USSR, performs on historical keyboard instruments, but is also committed to contemporary music.
In 1968 he was one of the first musicians who dared to perform pieces by John Cage and Terry Riley in the Soviet Union.
Alexei Lubimov is a founder of fortepiano tradition in USSR and one of the most important musicians in the world.
Alexei Lubimov (Alexei Borissowitsch Ljubimov) began studying piano at the conservatory in his hometown of Moscow in 1963, in Heinrich Neuhaus’s class. Later he taught himself at the conservatory.
Three years earlier, Lyubimov had won an all-Russian piano competition, as well as prizes at international competitions in Rio de Janeiro and Montreal. Lyubimov became known in 1968 when he brought works by John Cage and Terry Riley to the Russian premiere in Moscow. This also attracted the attention of the ideological leadership of the Soviet state, who tried to slow down the pianist’s career. Only in 1987 was the virtuoso able to undertake international concert tours again. Alexei Ljubimow became an interpreter of premieres of Russian composers such as Alfred Schnittke, Sofia Gubaidulina and Walentyn Sylwestrow from 1968 to 1975, but also included Arnold Schönberg, Anton von Webern, Pierre Boulez, Karlheinz Stockhausen and György Ligeti in his repertoire. In 1988 he founded the Moscow avant-garde festival “Alternativa” under the banner of glasnost .
In addition to his commitment to modern music, Lyubimov also dealt with the interpretation of early music on original instruments from the mid-1970s. In 1976 he founded the Moscow Baroque Quartet and together with Tatyana Gryndenko the Moscow Chamber Academy. For Erato he recorded the collected piano sonatas of Mozart on a fortepiano from the composer’s time. These recordings established him as a Mozart expert.
In 1992, Alexei Ljubimov appeared as a soloist and in chamber ensembles with Andreas Staier, Heinrich Schiff or Natalja Gutman. Alexei Lyubimov teaches in a master class at the Mozarteum in Salzburg.
