Pianist Grigory Sokolov, began studying the piano at the age of five. At the age of seven he entered the Leningrad Conservatory to study with Leah Zelikhman, where he later studied with Moisey Khalfin. He gave his first major recital in Moscow at the age of 12, and came to international attention after winning the 1966 International Tchaikovsky Piano Competition.
In the 40 years since the this award, the world has been blessed with what one American critic recently called “a kind of pianism, musicianship and artistry one thought had vanished forever”.
Championed at a young age by Emil Gilels and a prominent figure on the Russian music scene since his early teens, Grigory Sokolov has gained an almost mythical status among music-lovers throughout the world. He is considered by many today to be the world’s greatest living pianist.
Ever since his first recital in Leningrad he has amazed everyone again and again with the enormous breadth of his repertoire and his huge, almost physical musical strength. Using little pedal, and thus superior finger-work, he draws from the piano an immense variety of sounds; he has an unlimited palette of colors, a spontaneous imagination and a magical control of line.
Here is Mr. Sokolov as he prepares for yet another concert:
