Vladimir Selivokhin was a Soviet and Russian pianist, professor, and music educator. Born in Moscow on April 23, 1946, he was the son of an engineer. He gave his first concerts at the Kyiv State Philharmonic in 1956, aged ten, and performed Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto at thirteen.
He studied at the Central Music School attached to the Moscow Conservatory and then at the conservatory, graduating in 1969. He also studied at the Kyiv Conservatory with V. V. Topilin and was a pupil of the pianist Lev Oborin. After graduating, he began working with the Moscow State Philharmonic and, in the early 1970s, started touring internationally.
Selivokhin won first prize at the 1968 Busoni International Piano Competition in Bolzano, becoming its first Soviet laureate. He was recognized as one of the early Soviet pianists to gain international acclaim and became known for his interpretations of Sergei Rachmaninoff. He presented Rachmaninoff’s four piano concertos and Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini as a continuous program performed over two consecutive evenings.
In the 2000s, Selivokhin founded and led the Department of Musical Performance at the State Academy of Slavic Culture; it became a faculty in 2007. In 2010, he performed in Japan as part of Russian Language Week in Tokyo. During his final tour in Italy, he served on the jury of the Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition.
His recordings for Melodiya included works by Rachmaninoff, Liszt, Mozart, and Bach-Busoni. His honors included the title of Honored Artist of the RSFSR in 1988, People's Artist of the Russian Federation in 1999, and the 1996 Bronze Bear international prize for contributions to the development of the Russian piano school. He died in Moscow on February 8, 2015, and was buried at Pyatnitskoye Cemetery.