Alexander Toradze is universally recognized as a virtuoso in the grand Romantic tradition. He has enriched the Russian pianistic heritage with his own unorthodox interpretations, deeply poetic lyricism, and emotional intensity.
Mr. Toradze appears regularly with the world’s leading orchestras and participates in summer music festivals. In June 2003, he made his triumphant debut with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Vladimir Jurowski. Upcoming highlights include performances with the Toronto Symphony, Pacific Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, London Symphony, BBC Philharmonic, and the Dresden Philharmonic Orchestras, among others. In October 2006, he toured the U.S. with the Kirov Orchestra of the Mariinsky Theatre conducted by Valery Gergiev.
He has recorded numerous highly acclaimed CDs, devoted mainly to the Russian repertoire (Prokofiev, Scriabin, Mussorgsky, Stravinsky) on the Philips and Angel/EMI labels.
Born in 1952 in Georgia, Alexander Toradze graduated from the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow and soon became a professor there. In 1983, he moved permanently to the United States and in 1991, he was appointed the Martin Endowed Chair Professor of Piano at Indiana University South Bend, where he has created a teaching environment that is unparalleled in its concept. The members of the multi-national Toradze Piano Studio (www.toradzepianostudio.org) have developed into a worldwide touring ensemble that has gathered great international critical acclaim. The Studio has also performed projects detailing piano and chamber works by Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev, Dvorak and Stravinsky, in Rome, Venice and Ravenna in Italy; the Klavier Festival Ruhr and Berlin Festivals in Germany; and in Boston, Chicago and Washington DC.
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