Alexander Melnikov is a Russian pianist, born on 1 February 1973 in Moscow. He was awarded the title Honored Artist of the Russian Federation in 1999. He comes from a distinguished intellectual and artistic family: he is the grandson of the composers Zara Levina and Nikolai Chemberdzhi; his father, Mark Melnikov, is a mathematician, and his mother, Valentina Chemberdzhi, is a philologist, translator, and writer.
He began studying piano at the age of six and made his debut at seven with a Bach concerto in the Grand Hall of the Minsk Philharmonic. Melnikov graduated with distinction from the Central Music School attached to the Moscow State Conservatory, where he studied from 1980 to 1991, and completed his studies at the Moscow State Conservatory in 1997 in the piano class of Lev Naumov. He also trained at the Munich Hochschule für Musik with Eliso Virsaladze and at the International Piano Foundation at Lake Como in Italy with K. Schnabel and Andreas Staier.
An important role in his artistic formation was played by his early association with Sviatoslav Richter, who invited him to participate in his festivals in Moscow, Tarusa, and Tours. Melnikov won prizes at the Robert Schumann International Competition in Zwickau in 1989 and at the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels in 1991; he was also a laureate of the UNESCO International Competition in Bratislava in 1991 and of the International Music Organization Juventus in France in 1993.
In the field of historical instruments, his strongest influences were Andreas Staier and Alexei Lubimov. He has appeared with leading European early music ensembles and collaborated with major orchestras including the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Gewandhaus Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic, BBC Symphony Orchestra, NHK Symphony Orchestra, Russian National Orchestra, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, and Musica Aeterna. Among the conductors with whom he has worked are Yuri Temirkanov, Mikhail Pletnev, Teodor Currentzis, Charles Dutoit, Paavo Järvi, Yuri Bashmet, Vladimir Jurowski, and Pablo Heras-Casado.
Melnikov has also maintained an active international presence as a resident artist. From 2013 to 2019 he was artist-in-residence at the Muziekgebouw in Amsterdam and with the Tapiola Sinfonietta in Finland; in 2016 he was in residence in Brussels, and in the 2017–2018 season at Wigmore Hall in London. He appeared at the BBC Proms in the 2013–2014 season with the Warsaw Philharmonic under Antoni Wit in Shostakovich's Second Piano Concerto, and again in 2019 with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra under Thomas Dausgaard in Schumann's Piano Concerto.
Chamber music occupies a central place in his career. An early collaboration with Vadim Repin was especially important, and his regular partners have included Isabelle Faust, Jean-Guihen Queyras, Alexander Rudin, Steven Isserlis, Teunis van der Zwart, the Jerusalem Quartet, the Salagon Quartet, and the Casals Quartet. His partnership with Isabelle Faust led to numerous recordings for Harmonia Mundi, including the complete Beethoven sonatas for piano and violin, a recording that received, among other honors, the Gramophone Award and Echo Klassik and was nominated for a Grammy.
His discography has been widely acclaimed by critics. His recording of Shostakovich's 24 Preludes and Fugues received awards from BBC Music Magazine, Classica in France, and the German Record Critics' Prize; in 2011 BBC Music Magazine included it among the 50 greatest recordings of all time. His performances and recording of Shostakovich's two piano concertos with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra under Teodor Currentzis were warmly received by both critics and audiences. He later recorded Beethoven's complete works for cello and piano with Jean-Guihen Queyras, a disc of Hindemith sonatas, Schumann concertos and trios with the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra under Pablo Heras-Casado, and a multi-volume cycle of Prokofiev piano sonatas completed in 2021. His recording of Schumann's Piano Concerto was named by The New York Times among the best recordings of 2015.
Other notable projects include the album Many Pianos, in which he performed four virtuoso piano works on four instruments corresponding to the time of their creation. His later Harmonia Mundi releases included two CDs devoted to Debussy issued for the centenary of the composer's death, a Schubert four-hands album with Andreas Staier, and Mozart sonatas for violin and piano with Isabelle Faust. He has also recorded works by Dvořák, Scriabin, Schubert, Brahms, Rachmaninoff, Schumann, Hindemith, and Prokofiev.
Outside music, Melnikov has a lifelong passion for aviation and obtained a civil pilot's license. He speaks Russian, English, German, Spanish, and French. Over the course of his career he has received a large number of distinctions, including the youth Triumph Prize in 2001, the Triumph Prize in 2008, and many major awards for his Harmonia Mundi recordings in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain, and elsewhere.