Gleb Axelrod was a Russian pianist and music teacher, born in Moscow on October 11, 1923. He studied at the music school attached to the Moscow Conservatory with Leonid Roizman, then graduated from the conservatory in 1948 in Grigory Ginzburg’s class. He completed postgraduate study with Ginzburg in 1951.
Axelrod won first prize, the Smetana Prize, at the Prague Spring International Music Festival in 1951. He received fourth prize at the Long-Thibaud International Competition in 1955 and second prize at the inaugural Vianna da Motta International Piano Competition in 1957, after Naum Shtarkman.
From 1959 to 1997, Axelrod taught at the Moscow Conservatory. He became an associate professor in 1967 and a professor in 1979, and served on the juries of various international competitions. His students included Gulzhamilya Kadyrova, Sergey Musaelyan, Ruvim Ostrovsky, and Dmitry Pobedinsky.
In 1966, Axelrod was named Honored Artist of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. He died in Hanover, Germany, on October 2, 2003.