Boris Berezovsky

Boris Vadimovich Berezovsky (Борис Вадимович Березовский; born 4 January 1969) is a Russian pianist.

Berezovsky's original name was Elyashberg, Boris Vadimovich.

His parents changed the last name to Berezovsky when he was seven years old.

He studied at the Moscow Conservatory with Eliso Virsaladze and privately with Alexander Satz.

Following his London début at the Wigmore Hall in 1988, The Times described him as "an artist of exceptional promise, a player of dazzling virtuosity and formidable power."

In 1990, he won First Prize at the International Tchaikovsky Competition.

Berezovsky won the gold medal at the 1990 International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow.

In May 2005, he had his first solo recital in Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris and played in the same venue in January 2006 with the Orchestre National de France.

With the Mirare Label, he has recorded the Rachmaninoff Préludes (May 2005) as well as that composer's complete Piano Concertos with the Ural Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Dmitri Liss (August 2005).

Berezovsky has initiated and organized the International Medtner Festival that took place 2006 and 2007 in Moscow, Yekaterinburg and Vladimir.

On 10 March 2022 he went on Russian television to argue for the Russian Federation to commit war crimes in Ukraine by cutting off electricity and water in Kyiv.

He claimed that the war in Ukraine was started by the West.

He claimed that what the media in the West said was pure lies.

He said he didn't care about what was happening in the West, and that he would definitely not go to the West for the next three years.

A few days later he expressed his regrets for the comments, saying he was cut off from explaining in full what he really meant to say.

He also stated he did not condone the war.

On 17 March 2022 he was terminated by his concert agency Productions Internationales Albert Sarfati.

Their statement concluded, "He recently spoke on a pure propaganda talkshow on a Russian TV channel. His comments shocked, upset and stunned all those who know the man and the artist. We too were completely unable to understand his stance. He has provided an explanation in a statement which he has asked us to convey. We have known for many years the qualities of the man and of course the exceptional artist. However, we strongly condemn the comments he made during his TV appearance and we must sadly suspend the representation of Boris Berezovsky by our company."

Berezovsky's has made recordings of the complete Beethoven Piano concertos with the Swedish Chamber Orchestra with Thomas Dausgaard.

He has made records for Teldec, including solo discs of works by Chopin, Schumann, Rachmaninoff, Mussorgsky, Balakirev, Medtner, Ravel and the complete Liszt Transcendental Etudes.

His album Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 and Khachaturian Piano Сoncerto (Ural Philharmonic Orchestra/Dmitry Liss) was released in April 2006 in the UK.

In January 2007, he played seven recitals "Carte Blanche" in the Louvre.

The most recent recordings are Medtner Tales & Poems with Yana Ivanilova (soprano), Vassily Savenko (baritone) (Mirare 2008), Medtner Two pieces for two pianos, Op. 58, with Hamish Milne (piano) in: Medtner Complete Piano Sonatas; Piano Works — Vol. 7 (Brilliant Classics 2008), Rachmaninoff Suite No. 1 for two pianos, Op. 5 & Suite No. 2 for two pianos, Op. 17, with Brigitte Engerer (piano) (Mirare 2008).

In May 2009, he premiered Karol Beffa's "Piano concerto" in Toulouse, with Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse and Tugan Sokhiev as conductor.

In 2010 Berezovsky released a record of his Liszt recital (Mirare 2008).

His recording of selected works by Brahms (Piano Concerto No. 2, Variations on a Theme of Paganini, and Hungarian Dances Nos. 1, 2 & 4) was released in January 2011 (Mirare).

More recently, Berezovsky released a recording of the Piano Concerto no. 2 by Tchaikovsky and other selected works (also with Mirare).