Final Round Accompanists

Head of Piano Faculty at Moscow Conservatory

Born in Rostov in 1962. Andrey Pisarev graduated from the Music College at Moscow Conservatory, and in 1987 graduated from Moscow Conservatory (the class of the National Artist of Russia, Professor S. Dorensky).
The first prize laureate of S. Rachmaninov Competition (1983), the first prize laureate of the International V. Mozart Competition in Salzburg, the fourth prize laureate of the International Ferruccio Busoni Competition (1992), the first prize laureate of the International Competition in Pretoria (1992).
He has given concerts in various Russian cities, in Europe and US. As a soloist, he worked together with the Russian National Orchestra, Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestra of the Radio and TV of Milan, Japanese Philharmonic Orchestra, orchestras of Russian Philharmonic Societies. He recorded a number of CDs with the music of Russian and foreign composers. He worked together with the outstanding conductors: V. Dudarova, V. Verbitski, S. Kogan, A. Boreiko, P. Yadykh, O. Soldatov, L. Nikolayev, A. Chistkyakov, N. Alexeev.
Since 1992 Pisarev has been teaching at Moscow Conservatory, and currently he is a professor and head of piano faculty. He is often invited to teach master classes in Russia, Japan, US, Brazil. His students repeatedly became winners and laureates of the international piano competitions.
As a jury member, he participated in the international competitions such as Gina Bachauer Competition in Salt Lake City (USA), George Enescu Competition in Bucharest (Romania), in Pretoria (South Africa), in Hamamatsu (Japan).
He is an honored artist of Russian Federation. He has a huge repertoire and his outstanding musicality and accurate guidance are highly acclaimed.

Alexei Melnikov has come to international attention in 2019, where he received the Third Prize and Bronze Medal at the XVI International Tschaikovsky Competition in Moscow, one of the world’s most important musical events.

This recognition followed previous prestigious awards; Third Prize at the IX Hamamatsu Piano Competition, Japan’s biggest contest, chaired by Akiko Ebi and Martha Argerich where he performed in the finals Rachmaninov piano concerto No. 3 with the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra conducted by Ken Takaseki. During that occasion the Japanese press wrote about Alexei`s performances: "He is a pianist who created a musical world of his own from the beginning and at each and every one of the stages through his unique sound and the repertoire he had chosen.”

Another great success came at the San Marino International Piano competition in 2014, where Alexei became the winner of the First prize, the Audience Choice Award, Critics prize and Orchestra Prize.
These awards have established him as an internationally active performer both as a soloist and as active chamber musician.

Alexei performed with numerous orchestras, including Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra, Moscow State Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, State Academic Orchestra “Evgeny Svetlanov”, San Marino Symphony Orchestra, St. Petersburg State Symphony Orchestra, Sochi Symphony Orchestra, Millennium Symphony Orchestra of Seoul, the Orchestra of Belgorod Philharmonic, Tomsk Philharmonic, Nizhny Novgorod Philharmonic, the Chamber Orchestra of Veliky Novgorod Philharmonic, Chamber Orchestra "Virtuosi di Praga".

Alexei has played recitals in many cities of Russia, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, Italy, France, Japan, Argentina, Vietnam, Macedonia, Uruguay, USA, Austria, Spain, including venues such as Seoul Arts Center, Weill Recital Hall of Carnegie Hall, Mariinsky Concert Hall, Salle Cortot in Paris, Linz Brucknerhaus, Concert Hall Bunka Kaikan in Tokyo, Palace Žofín in Prague, Theatre "La Fenice" in Venice, the Grand Hall of the Moscow Conservatory ... He participated in the International Chamber Music Festival in Cervo (Italy), The White Nights Festival, Platonov Arts Festival, Monschau Music Festival, Festival "Animato" in Paris, International Piano Festival in Trieste (Italy), "Opera Estate" in Bassano del Grappa (Italy), “Romantic Music Festival” in the Grand hall of Moscow Conservatory, “Heinrich Neuhaus” Festival in Moscow, Meeting Rimini Festival (Italy).

In November 2017 Alexei released his first CD with works by Beethoven, Liszt and Chopin on “Acousence Classics” label (Germany).
“... impeccable technique, but much more than that: his Ap- passionata, begun sotto voce, quickly deploys a whole theater where the keyboard sounds bright silver and eloquent like that of the Richter of great years, and thought, held, in every sentence throughout the sonata with an art that knows exactly how to embody the text of Beethoven” Jean-Charles Hoffele, Artamag’

Alexei was born in Moscow in 1990. At a young age Alexei began to take first steps in piano and composition. When Alexei was 6 years old, his parents brought him to the famous Gnessin School, where he spent next 12 years perfecting his playing under the guidance of Tatiana Shklovskaya.
In the year 2008, he continued his studies at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory under the tutelage of the People's Artist of Russia Sergei Dorensky, and his assistants - Nikolai Lugansky, Pavel Nersesian and Andrei Pisarev.
He does not disregard masterclasses either: in 2018 he was invited to the Verbier Festival Academy, where he received the Neva Foundation Special Prize.