Yevgeny Sudbin

Yevgeny Sudbin has been hailed by the Daily Telegraph (UK) as “potentially one of the greatest pianists of the 21st century.” In the midst of a seven year (and 14 album) collaboration with BIS Records, his recordings have met with overwhelming critical acclaim. The International Record Review stated that Sudbin’s Rachmaninoff 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 received the 2013 Critics’ Circle Award for Exceptional Young Talent in the instrumental category, intended to recognize both achievement and promise in musicians under age 35.

Sudbin’s 2013-14 season commenced with recitals at the Singapore Piano Festival and his annual appearance in Wigmore Hall. These were followed by two appearances at the Verbier Festival, in recital and in a performance of Beethoven’s “Emperor Concerto” with the Verbier Festival Orchestra conducted by Charles Dutoit. Recitals throughout the UK followed, also a Paris duo-recital with cellist Alexander Chaushian. He performed and recorded for BIS Scriabin’s Piano Concerto and Medtner’s Piano Concerto No. 3, with the Bergen Philharmonic under Andrew Litton, and played with both the BBC Symphony under Thierry Fischer and the Lucerne Symphony under Slobodeniouk. In the United States, Sudbin performed recitals in the Folly Theatre in Kansas City, Cabell Hall at University of Virginia/Charlottesville, in the American Theatre in Hampton, Virginia, and in Hodson Hall with the Johns Hopkins Shriver Series in Baltimore.

On the BIS label he has released an all-Chopin recording, Rachmaninoff-Paganini Variations, and Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 1, all with the Singapore Symphony. In 2008-09, Sudbin embarked on recording the complete cycle of Beethoven piano concertos with the Minnesota Orchestra and Osmo Vänskä, the first of which, Concertos No. 4 and No. 5, received consistently rave reviews; Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3, coupled with Mozart’s concerto No. 24, recorded with the Minnesota Orchestra, was recently released. As was Scriabin’s Piano Concerto and Medtner’s Concerto No. 3 performed and recorded with Andrew Litton and the Bergen Philharmonic.

Sudbin has appeared with many of the world’s most distinguished orchestras such as London Philharmonic under Neeme Jarvi; London Philharmonia under Tugan Sokhiev, the symphony orchestras of Seattle, San Francisco, North Carolina, New Jersey, Indianapolis and Vancouver. In Europe he has played with the Warsaw Philharmonic, BBC Scottish, and Tampere Philharmonic in Finland, among others.

He has given recitals in Atlanta’s Spivey Hall, Seattle’s Meany Hall, San Francisco Performances, at the Metropolitan Museum, for the Gilmore and Singapore International Piano Series, in Montreal, Vancouver, and in venues such as Hamburg’s Musikhalle, Zurich’s Tonhalle, Leipzig’s Gewandhaus, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Paris’ Salle Gaveau, and Milan’s Sala Verdi; also in London’s South Bank Centre and Wigmore Hall where he performs annually, and in Hong Kong, Tokyo, Taiwan and Singapore. Sudbin has also performed at prestigious music festivals throughout the world. His love of chamber music has led him to collaborate with many other musicians including Alexander Chaushian, Ilya Gringolts, Hilary Hahn, and Julia Fischer.

Born in St. Petersburg in 1980, Yevgeny Sudbin displayed exceptional musical talent 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 in 1997 he moved to London to study with Christopher Elton at the Royal Academy of Music. Additionally, he attended the International Piano Foundation at Lake Como, Italy. The Pulvermacher Foundation, Alexis Gregory Foundation, and Wall Trust have also played important roles in Sudbin’s career. He makes his home in London with his wife and two young children.