Igor Lovchinsky (born December 15, 1984) is a Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

n-American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 classical pianist.

Early years

Born in Kazan

Kazan

Kazan is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia. With a population of 1,143,546 , it is the eighth most populous city in Russia. Kazan lies at the confluence of the Volga and Kazanka Rivers in European Russia. In April 2009, the Russian Patent Office granted Kazan the...

, then part of the Soviet Union

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

, Lovchinsky began his musical career at the Kazan Special Music School for Gifted Children. After immigrating to the United States with his family in 1994, Lovchinsky continued his studies with renowned pedagogues Nina Polonsky and Steven Glaser. In 2003, Lovchinsky entered the Juilliard School

Juilliard School

The Juilliard School, located at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City, United States, is a performing arts conservatory which was established in 1905...

 in New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

 on full scholarship, where he studied under Jerome Lowenthal

Jerome Lowenthal

Jerome Lowenthal is an American classical pianist. He is a professor of piano at the Juilliard School in New York, where he was also chair of the piano department. Additionally, Lowenthal is on the faculty at Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, California.He made his debut at 13 with the...

. He received a Bachelor's degree from Juilliard in 2007 and a Master's degree from the New England Conservatory in Boston

Boston

Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...

.

Performing and recording career

As soloist, Igor Lovchinsky has performed at some of the major concert halls in the United States, including concerts at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is a performing arts center located on the Potomac River, adjacent to the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C...

, Carnegie Hall

Carnegie Hall

Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....

’s Weill Recital Auditorium, Hilbert Circle Theatre, the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts, the Eastman Theatre

Eastman Theatre

The Eastman Theatre is the main building of the Eastman School of Music of the University of Rochester, located in downtown Rochester, New York....

 and the Ohio Theatre

Ohio Theatre

The Ohio Theatre is a performing arts center located at 39 E. State Street in Columbus, Ohio. Known as the "Official Theatre of the State of Ohio", the historic 1928 movie palace was saved from demolition in 1969 and completely restored...

. Internationally, he has presented recitals at the National Philharmonic Hall in Warsaw, the American Embassy in Beijing, and the Rosza Centre in Calgary. Upcoming international tours include performances in Lithuania

Lithuania

Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...

 and Poland

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

.

Mr. Lovchinsky has performed as soloist with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra

Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra

The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra is a major American orchestra based in Indianapolis, Indiana.Annually, the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra performs 200 concerts for over 350,000 people. It is the largest performing arts organization in Indiana. The ISO is currently one of only 18 American...

, the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, the Columbus Symphony Orchestra

Columbus Symphony Orchestra

The Columbus Symphony is an American symphony orchestra based in Columbus, Ohio. The oldest performing arts organization in the city, its home is the Ohio Theatre. The orchestra's current President and Chief Creative Officer is Roland Valliere...

, the Live Music Project Ensemble, the Florida International University Symphony Orchestra, and others. In addition, his performance of Chopin's First Concerto with the Connecticut Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra was broadcast on WQXR

WQXR-FM

WQXR-FM is an American classical radio station licensed to Newark, New Jersey, and serving the New York City metropolitan area. It is the most-listened-to classical-music station in the United States, with an average quarter-hour audience of 63,000...

 radio in New York and was featured as the soundtrack of the independent film "Romance Larghetto" by director Pablo Goldbarg. In 2007, in collaboration with legendary American pianist Earl Wild

Earl Wild

Royland Earl Wild was an American pianist widely recognized as a leading virtuoso of his generation. Harold C. Schonberg called him a "super-virtuoso in the Horowitz class". He was known as well for his transcriptions of classical music and jazz...

, Lovchinsky recorded his debut album on the Ivory Classics

Ivory Classics

Ivory Classics is an American classical music record label governed by the Ivory Classics Foundation. The purpose of this foundation, which was established in 1998, is to "promote, through charitable and benevolent activities, and appreciation for the art of the piano through its work with the...

 label, featuring music of Chopin, Scriabin and Wild's transcriptions of Gershwin

George Gershwin

George Gershwin was an American composer and pianist. Gershwin's compositions spanned both popular and classical genres, and his most popular melodies are widely known...

 songs. The disc received rave reviews from Gramophone Magazine, Germany's Piano Magazine, MusicWeb International Record Review and was voted one of top five classical recordings of 2008 by Time Out International.

An avid exponent of new music, Mr. Lovchinsky has premiered works of Olivier Messiaen

Olivier Messiaen

Olivier Messiaen was a French composer, organist and ornithologist, one of the major composers of the 20th century. His music is rhythmically complex ; harmonically and melodically it is based on modes of limited transposition, which he abstracted from his early compositions and improvisations...

, Heather Schmidt and Frank Felice.

Awards

Lovchinsky is the first prize winner of the Eastman International Piano Competition and the National Chopin Piano Competition of the Kosciuszko Foundation.