Yevgeny Sudbin is already hailed as potentially one of
the greatest pianists of the 21st century - The Daily Telegraph
In the midst of a 7-year and 14-album collaboration with BIS Records, his recordings have met with overwhelming critical acclaim. The International Record Review stated that Sudbin's Rachmaninov recording "confirms him as one of the most important pianistic talents of our time." His release of works by Scriabin was chosen CD of the Year by London's Daily Telegraph, CD of the Month by BBC Music Magazine, and was awarded the MIDEM Classical Award for best solo instrument CD at Cannes. Sudbin has performed in many of the world's finest venues, both in recital and with orchestra.
In 2009-10, Sudbin's many recitals include appearances at Tonhalle (Zurich), Wigmore Hall Master Series (London), Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), San Francisco Performances, the Gilmore International Piano Festival, and ProArte Musical (San Juan, Puerto Rico). Orchestral engagements include performances of Scriabin's Piano Concerto in F Sharp Minor with the London Philharmonic under Neeme Järvi, and Shostakovich Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Philharmonia under Sokhiev, both at the Royal Festival Hall in London. He also performs Beethoven's Concerto No. 5 with Minnesota Orchestra (which will also be recorded for BIS).
Summer 2009 highlights included a recital at the Singapore International Piano Festival, and a performance of Mozart's Piano Concerto No.12, K. 414 with Indianapolis Symphony at Conner Prairie. He also performs Rachmaninoff's Concerto No. 1 with the Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra and Beethoven's Concerto No. 4 with the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra at Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall, both under Osmo Vänskä.
Sudbin has appeared with many of the world's most distinguished orchestras. Recent North American engagements include performances with the Minnesota Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, and North Carolina Symphony. In Europe, he has appeared with the Warsaw Philharmonic and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. Sudbin's performance of Rachmaninov's Concerto No. 1 at the 2008 BBC Proms was described by the Daily Telegraph as "sublime."
Recent recitals include appearances at Atlanta's Spivey Hall, Seattle's Meany Hall, the Harriman-Jewell Series in Kansas City, the Piano Forte Series at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and the Aspen Music Festival. He has played at venues such as the Musikhalle in Hamburg, the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, the Schauspielhaus in Berlin, the Salle Gaveau in Paris, the Sala Verdi in Milan, as well as London's South Bank Centre and Wigmore Hall, where he performs annually. Sudbin has performed at music festivals throughout the world, and is a frequent participant at the Verbier Festival in Switzerland. Recitals in 2010 will include the International Paino Series at London’s Southbank, and Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw. His love of chamber music has led him to collaborate with many other musicians including Alexander Chaushian, Ilya Gringolts, Hilary Hahn, and Julia Fischer.
In 2008-09, Sudbin embarked on recording the complete cycle of Beethoven concertos for BIS, a multi-year undertaking in collaboration with the Minnesota Orchestra under Osmo Vänskä. During 2007-08, Sudbin recorded Rachmaninov's Concerto No. 4, in its original 1926 version, with the North Carolina Symphony under Grant Llewellyn. The work is paired with Medtner's Concerto No. 2, recorded with the same orchestra, and the disc was released in 2009 to great acclaim.
Born in St Petersburg in 1980, Yevgeny Sudbin displayed exceptional musical talents from an early age and in 1987 entered the Specialist Music School of the St. Petersburg Conservatory. In 1990 he continued his studies in Berlin and then moved to London where he has lived since 1997, and where he studied with Christopher Elton at the Royal Academy of Music. Additionally, he attended the International Piano Foundation at Lake Como, Italy. He has taken lessons with Murray Perahia, Claude Frank, Leon Fleisher, Stephen Hough, Alexander Satz, and others. The Pulvermacher Foundation, Alexis Gregory Foundation, and Wall Trust have also played important roles in Yevgeny's career.
His Wigmore Hall début recital: A great recital. He is a pianist of uncommon sensitivity and refinement and has total confidence in his imaginative concept of each piece. - Adrian Jack The Independent
His 2006 Verbier Festival recital: Sudbin's great quality was his acute sense of characterization, conveying not just the letter of the music through his consummate technique, but also its spirit through his intuition and inspiration. Any chance to hear him should be snapped up. - Geoffrey Norris The Daily Telegraph
His Scarlatti recording: Once in a blue moon a record appears by a hitherto unknown artist who seems destined to take his place among the elect. Both musically and technically, this debut is on a par with those two greatest of Scarlatti pianists, Horowitz and Pletnev. As eloquent in the most poignant sonatas as he is brilliant in the showstoppers, Sudbin is already a master. - Daniel Steans Piano Magazine
His Rachmaninov recording: This confirms him as one of the most important pianistic talents of our time - Harriet Smith International Record Review
His Tchaikovsky / Medtner recording: Few seem as fresh and necessary as this release from this wonder pianist - Geoff Brown The Times
His Scriabin recording: No pianist of any generation has, in my experience, captured Scriabin's volatility so vividly as Sudbin. This, put suitably euphorically, is a disc in a million. - Bryce Morrison, Gramophone