Boris Vadimovich Berezovsky is a Russian pianist, piano special-class teacher at the Gnessin Moscow Special School of Music, and Honored Artist of the Russian Federation. He was born on 4 January 1969 in Moscow, on the Arbat, into a musical family.
He studied at the Gnessin Special Music School with Irina Rodzevich and also took private lessons with Izmail Alterman and Nikolai Stanishevsky. From 1986 to 1990 he studied at the Moscow Conservatory in the piano class of Eliso Virsaladze, although he did not receive a diploma because his participation in the Tchaikovsky Competition coincided with his final examinations. After his victory in that competition, he also took private lessons with Alexander Satz, who helped him find his own style and deepened his understanding of Nikolai Medtner and contemporary music.
Berezovsky made a highly successful London debut at Wigmore Hall in 1988. In 1989 he gave his first performance in France, at the Louvre concert hall in Paris. In 1990 he won First Prize and the Gold Medal at the 9th International Tchaikovsky Competition. He also received fourth prize at the Leeds International Pianoforte Competition in 1987.
From 1991 to 2013 he lived in London and Brussels. He has toured widely in Russia and abroad and has appeared at such venues as the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, the Royal Albert Hall, Carnegie Hall, and the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, where he has performed regularly since the early 2000s. In 2013 he returned to Moscow, and since 2019 he has led a special piano class at the Gnessin school.
He is described as one of the major virtuosos of his generation, combining formidable technique with poetic imagery, originality of interpretation, refinement of sound palette, and a strong sense of style. He has performed with leading orchestras in Europe, Russia, the United States, and Japan, and has collaborated in chamber music with many prominent musicians including Vadim Repin, Alexander Kniazev, Dmitri Makhtin, Nikolai Lugansky, Brigitte Engerer, Hamish Milne, Akiko Suwanai, Julian Rachlin, Dmitry Sitkovetsky, Alexander Melnikov, and others.
Berezovsky has taken part in many international music festivals, including La Folle Journée, Verbier, La Roque d'Anthéron, the Salzburg Festival, the Ruhr Piano Festival, the Aspen Music Festival, and others. In January 2007 he gave seven “Carte Blanche” concerts at the Louvre. He became an important advocate of Nikolai Medtner’s music, founded and served as artistic director of the International Nikolai Medtner Festival, held since 2006 in Moscow, Yekaterinburg, and Vladimir, and also organized the annual International Music Festival “Summer Evenings in Yelabuga.”
Critical reception has emphasized his exceptional virtuosity and depth of sound. In 2007 Gramophone described him as a pianist of rare stage charisma and called him a true successor to the great Russian piano school. His discography includes more than 40 CDs and several DVDs, with recordings of repertoire by Rachmaninoff, Chopin, Liszt, Beethoven, Schumann, Medtner, Hindemith, Prokofiev, Tchaikovsky, and others. Among his distinctions are a Diapason d'Or, Gramophone Editor's Choice awards, BBC Music Magazine awards, Echo Klassik prizes, and other international recording honors.
He is married and has three children: daughters Evelina, born in 1991 and also a pianist, and Maria, and a son, Adrian.
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