Oleksiy Botvinov is a Ukrainian pianist, People's Artist of Ukraine, Chevalier of the Order of the Star of Italy, Member of the Presidential Council of the World Club of Odessans, founder of the International Music Festival "Odesa Classics" and the All-Ukrainian Competition for Young Pianists named after Seraphima Mogilevska. He is considered one of the world's best performers of Rachmaninoff's music. He has performed 300 times on stage the Goldberg Variations by J. S. Bach. He has a wide repertoire, which includes more than 30 concertos for piano and orchestra. He was the first Ukrainian musician since Ukraine's independence to record a disc on the world-famous Deutsche Grammophon label. He has toured successfully in more than 40 countries.
Biography.
Oleksiy Botvinov was born on 8 September 1964 in Odesa into a family of musicians. His father, Ivan Botvinov (1917-1980), was a composer and musicologist; he held the position of Head of the Department of Music Theory and Vice-Rector of the Odesa Conservatory. His mother, Vira Oleksandrivna Belyaeva (1943), was a pianist and concertmaster (of the Odesa Conservatory). After his parents' divorce and his mother's second marriage, from the age of nine he was raised by his stepfather, Anatolii Ivanovych Duda (1946-2020) - People's Artist of Ukraine, singer (tenor), vocal teacher - who played a significant role in the formation of Oleksii as a musician and personality.
He began his musical education in Odesa, with Professor S. Mohylevska. From 1981 to 1985, he studied at the Odesa Conservatoire with Professor A. Kardashev, graduating with honours.
In 1983, at the age of 19, he became the youngest participant and winner of the 1st All-Union Rachmaninoff Competition (Moscow), after which he became a soloist of the Odesa Philharmonic and a teacher at the Conservatory.
In 1987-1989, he took an internship at the Moscow Conservatoire with Professor V. V. Hornostayeva.
Since 1994 he has lived abroad, remaining a citizen of Ukraine.
He lives in Odesa, combining performances as a soloist with the Odesa Regional Philharmonic and tours around the world.
Activities.
In 1994-1996, he lived in Dusseldorf, where the premiere of a ballet based on Schumann's "Children's Scenes" began his fruitful collaboration with the famous Swiss choreographer Heinz Sperli[de].
Since 1996 he has combined active touring with his position as guest solo pianist with the Zurich Ballet. The pianist has performed music by Mozart, Chopin, Brahms, Prokofiev, Stravinsky, Scriabin, Schnittke and others with consistent success in Sperli's ballet performances.
Since 1995, he has been performing J.S. Bach's Goldberg Variations, which have become a hallmark of the Sperly Company and have led to performances in almost all European countries, Canada, Japan, Israel and South Africa. Since 2001, the Goldberg Variations have been part of the permanent repertoire of the Berlin Deutsche Oper Ballet (the premiere performance of the work by Alexander Botvinov in June 2001 became a sensation, which was reflected in the high praise it received from the German press ("Fireworks at the Piano" (Berliner Kurier), "Botvinov is a lucky break for Deutsche Oper" (Tagesspiegel), etc.).
In 1996, in Switzerland, he released a CD of Goldberg Variations, which immediately hit number two on the classical music charts ("Super recording!", Le Figaro, Paris). The newspaper Neue Züricher Zeitung praised the pianist's subsequent recordings: Chopin - as "incredibly beautiful", Brahms - "surprising in its unconventionality, but convincing in every detail". In Switzerland, he also released discs of Rachmaninoff's works and concerts by Bach and Mozart ("live" from the Prague Philharmonic).
Alexei Botvinov has performed at numerous music festivals, including the Chopin Festival in Poland and the Festspiel in Zurich.
In 2002, he was a member of the jury of the Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Competition in Poland.
In August 2003, he was Artist in Residence at the 15th International Festival in Murten (Switzerland), where he played six solo and orchestral concerts.
In October 2008, he initiated and implemented a new project - a multimedia concert "Visual Reality of Music" - a combination of classical music and video installation - together with the Videomatics video band). The European premiere took place with great success at the Odesa Philharmonic, featuring works by J.S. Bach, S. Rachmaninoff, A. Scriabin, A. Karamanov and Y. Freidlin. Along with its creative objectives, the project is also of great educational importance: the synthesis of music and images helps to engage with classical music for all those who are accustomed to the dynamics of visual forms on TV and computer screens.
In 2009, the project was presented to great acclaim at the International House of Music in Moscow, and an open-air concert on St. Sophia's Square in Kyiv was attended by about 5,000 people.
In November 2008, in St. Petersburg, Alexei Botvinov, together with art critic, teacher, violinist and Nobel Prize-winning expert Mikhail Kazinik, continued to work on the largest journalistic television project in Russian history, Free Flight, at the Igor Shadkhan Workshop television association. The 56 films in this series were broadcast on TV Centre and TVCI channels. The films cover hundreds of musical pieces written by composers of the last three centuries. In November 2008, the Russian radio station Orpheus[ru] launched a series of programmes in collaboration with M. Kazynik called e'Ad Libitum, or In Free Flight, in which the authors analysed music of all eras and styles in a non-stop weekly dialogue for half an hour.
From August 2009 to May 2010, Oleksiy Botvinov served as the artistic director of the Odesa National Opera and Ballet Theatre on a voluntary basis. During this time, the theatre hosted two premieres that became notable events in the cultural life of the country: the ballet Nureyev Forever and the opera Turandot.
A new revolutionary project for the world of classics, Goldberg. Reloaded" is a combination of seemingly incompatible cultural spheres - the pinnacle of European music, J.S. Bach's Goldberg Variations, with the oriental rhythms of the famous Turkish percussionist Burhan Ocal[tr], based on ancient Sufi traditions. The European premiere of Reboot was a great success at the Great (Svetlanovsky) Hall of the Moscow House of Music on 19 September 2011, followed by performances in Paris, Zurich, Basel, the Montreux Jazz Festival, the opening of the Istanbul Film Festival, the National Philharmonic of Ukraine (Kyiv), the Odesa Regional Philharmonic, and the Akkerman Fortress.
Created in 2011, the theatre and music project "Writer. Elegy" (based on the novel "The Writer" by Mikhail Shishkin) was Alexei Botvinov's directorial debut; he also acted as the author of the play and set designer. The project caused a sensation in Moscow and St Petersburg, the play was successfully staged many times on the Odesa stage, and in December 2012, the German-language version of the play premiered in Zurich with great success.
Oleksiy Botvinov was the author of the idea, art director and main organiser of the International Music Festival "Odesa Classics", which has been held annually in early June since 2015 in Odesa. In 2018, in honour of his first piano teacher, he founded the annual Seraphima Mohylevska All-Ukrainian Competition for Young Pianists.
In February 2021, together with Daniel Hope[en], he released the CD "SCHNITTKE Works for Violin and Piano" on the Deutsche Grammophon label.
In January-February 2022, Oleksiy Botvinov took part in the MustonenFest International Music Festival, which was scheduled to take place in Tallinn (Estonia). The festival started on 27 January, and the concert of the Odesa resident was scheduled for 2 February 2022.
Teachers
Prof. Serafima Mohylevska (1975-1982);
Professor Anatolii Kardashev (from 1982 to 1985);
Prof. Vira Gornostaieva, (from 1987 to 1989).
Recognition and awards
1983 - Laureate of the 1st All-Union Rachmaninoff Competition (Moscow)
1988 - Laureate of the 8th International Bach Competition (Leipzig)
1993 - Laureate of the 1st International Clara Schumann Competition (Düsseldorf)
2001 - Honoured Artist of Ukraine
2007 - Musician of the Year, "People's Recognition" rating, Odesa
2009 - Diploma of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine for services in the field of culture of Ukraine.
2011 - Diploma of the Odesa City Council for many years of fruitful creative work and high professional skills.
2011 - Order of St. Dmitry (Tuptal), Metropolitan of Rostov
2013 - Order of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir, II degree
2014 - Award of the Odesa Regional Council
2014 - Award of the Mayor of Odesa "For Merit to the City"
2015 - People's Artist of Ukraine
2019 - Badge of Honour of the Mayor of Odesa
2020 - Chevalier of the Order of the Star of Italy[it]
2020 - Swiss Wilhelm Tell Award
2020 - Pride of Odesa, rating "People's recognition. Odessite of the Year"
Marital status
Wife - Elena (1977)
Son - Mikhail (2013).
Interesting.
As a child, Alexei Botvinov dreamed of becoming a footballer, but at the age of 9 he decided to become a musician.
The pianist's favourite instrument is a black grand piano made by the German company Hoffmann, manufactured before the Second World War; it has belonged to the musician since he was 15 years old and is located in Odesa.
Favourite literary works: "The Writer by Shishkin, The Steppenwolf by Hesse, The Master and Margarita by Bulgakov, Chapaev and the Void by Pelevin. His favourite literary genre is fiction.
He prefers Italian, French and Japanese cuisine[40].
Discography
Johann Sebastian Bach - Goldberg-Variationen - alphadisc 970420
Johannes Brahms - Händel-Variationen
Frédéric Chopin - Sieben Nocturnes - alphadisc 970908
Bach - Mozart - Beretta - live mit den Musici de Praga
Bach - Klavierkonzert in D-moll BWV 1052, Mozart - Klavierkonzert in D-moll KV 466 - Beretta - Bach and I / Mozart in the Sky alphadisc 980117
Botvinov plays Rachmaninov - nurkultur 0203AB
SCHNITTKE Works for Violin and Piano. Daniel Hope, Alexey Botvinov - Deutsche Grammophon (DG) 00028948392346
