Biography full version
 
Clive Barda

Yevgeny Sudbin has been hailed by The Telegraph as “potentially one of the greatest pianists of the 21st century”. As BIS Records’ only exclusive artist, all of Yevgeny’s recordings have met with critical acclaim and are regularly featured as CD of the Month by BBC Music Magazine or Editor’s Choice by Gramophone. His Scriabin recording was awarded CD of the Year by The Telegraph and received the MIDEM Classical Award for Best Solo Instrument Recording at Cannes. It was described by Gramophone as “a disc in a million” while the International Record Review stated that Yevgeny’s Rachmaninov recording “confirms him as one of the most important pianistic talents of our time”. His 10th anniversary disc of Scarlatti Sonatas was received with equal rapture and not only hit No. 1 in the Classical Music Charts but was also nominated for the Gramophone Classical Music Award. Yevgeny was also nominated as Gramophone Artist of the Year in 2016.
 
Highly praised as a concert soloist — with The Telegraph describing his performance of Rachmaninov's Concerto No. 1 at the BBC Proms as ‘sublime’ — Yevgeny has worked in recent seasons with the Philharmonia, Rotterdams Philharmonisch Orkest, Montreal Symphony Orchestra, as well as Minnesota Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, Luzerner Sinfonieorchester, Czech Philharmonic, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Australian Chamber Orchestra and many others. He also performs regularly in many of the world's finest venues and concert series including the Queen Elizabeth Hall (International Piano Series); Tonhalle Zurich; Royal Festival Hall; Concertgebouw (Meesterpianisten, Amsterdam); Avery Fisher Hall (New York) and Davies Symphony Hall (San Francisco).

Yevgeny has collaborated with some of the world’s most influential conductors, such as Neeme Järvi, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Osmo Vänskä, Hannu Lintu, Tugan Sokhiev, Mark Wigglesworth, Andrew Litton, Dmitri Slobodeniouk and Vassily Sinaisky. In addition, his love of chamber music has led him to collaborate with many musicians including Alexander Chaushian, Ilya Gringolts, Hilary Hahn, Julia Fischer, the Chilingirian Quartet, Johannes Moser, Vadim Gluzman and many others. Appearances at festivals in the past have included Aspen, Mostly Mozart, Tivoli, Nohant, La Roque d'Antheron, Menton and Verbier.

Highlights of his 18/19 season include recitals at Birmingham Town Hall, Kolarac Hall (Belgrade), Chopin Society (London), Vancouver Recital Society and Serate Musicali (Milan). Furthermore, he will make several debuts with orchestras across the globe, including the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, NCPA Beijing and Japan Philharmonic, plus make a return visit with the London Chamber Orchestra.
Yevgeny was born in St Petersburg in 1980 and began his musical studies at the Specialist Music School of the St Petersburg Conservatory with Lyubov Pevsner at the age of 5. He emigrated with his family to Germany in 1990 where he continued his studies at Hanns Eisler Musikhochschule (Galina Ivanzova). In 1997 Yevgeny moved to London to study at the Purcell School and subsequently the Royal Academy of Music where he completed his Bachelor and Masters degrees under Christopher Elton. He was supported by the Hattori and Pulvermacher Foundations as well as The Wall Trust, of which he is now Vice President. In 2010, he was awarded a Fellowship by Academy and is now a Visiting Professor.

Yevgeny lives in London with his wife and three young children and, in his spare time, he is an avid photographer.

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His Concertgebouw début: Sudbin's Rachmaninoff reminded one of the aristocratic playing of the composer himself. In his own arrangement of one of Rachmaninoff's songs, Spring Waters, he demonstrated to be a match for this grandmaster. - Christo Lelie, Trouw 

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 BeethovenConcertos 4&5: Time and again I come away from a Yevgeny Sudbin recital thinking the same thing, that this brilliant young pianist exhibits an infectious hunger for his repertoire. He seems to consume it, occasionally be consumed by it, and his exploration of these concertos seems exactly that, an entirely immersary experience. Thrilling." - James Invern, Gramophone

His Chopin recording:This glorious disc confirms Yevgeny Sudbin as one of the most searching and inspired of today's pianists. Each recording that he produces in his continuing series for BIS seems to reveal a new facet of his thought processes and his interpretative intelligence...This is a disc not to be missed. It is a triumph.- Geoffrey Norris, The 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

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