Yevgeny Sudbin

Yevgeny Sudbin has in a few short years etched out a career as one of the leading pianists to have emerged from post-Soviet Russia. Although he plays Rachmaninov and other virtuosic repertory, Sudbin has garnered much attention for his Scarlatti sonatas and other Baroque-era works. In general, too, he has eschewed the blood-and-thunder standards from the Romantic and post-Romantic eras, favoring instead programs that offer healthy doses of Scriabin, Medtner, and even Vainberg. And when he does play Rachmaninov it is usually, to paraphrase Roy Harris, the "mud" not the "sugar" side of the composer, as evidenced by Sudbin's highly praised recording on BIS Records of the Second Sonata and his concert performances of the Corelli Variations. Sudbin, London-based since 1997, has had mostly non-Russian teachers and is thus not in the mold of the Russian piano tradition. That said, he possesses the equipment and interpretive sensibilities of some of the finest pianists Russia has produced, like Richter and Gilels. Sudbin has had several recordings released since 2005, all on the BIS label.

Yevgeny Sudbin was born in St. Petersburg, Russia (the former Leningrad, USSR) in 1980. By age seven he exhibited an extraordinary talent and was admitted to St. Petersburg Conservatory under a special program for gifted youths. He won an international competition in 1990, the year his parents moved the family to Berlin.

Sudbin studied there at the Hochschule für Musik Berlin (today the Berlin University of the Arts). In 1997 he relocated to London and began studies at the Purcell School and later at the Royal Academy of Music. At both institutions his most important teacher was Christopher Elton. Other teachers over the years include Murray Perahia, Claude Frank, Stephen Hough, Leon Fleisher, Stephen Kovacevich, Alexander Satz, Dmitri Bashkirov, Maria Curcio, and Fou Ts'ong.

By the early 2000s, Sudbin's career was well established in England and throughout Europe, with appearances at the major venues in Berlin, Hamburg, Leipzig, Paris, and London. His first recording was released in 2005, a collection of Scarlatti sonatas that received nearly unanimous critical acclaim.

In 2006 he toured the U.S. and Canada, scoring particular critical success with his New York debut at the Frick Collection. The following year he achieved further critical acclaim on his tours of Austria, Italy, Brazil, U.S. (Aspen Festival), Spain, Denmark, and France. His recordings include a 2007 BIS CD of sonatas and other works by Scriabin.