Alexander Toradze, piano
Alexander Toradze is universally recognized as a masterful virtuoso in the grand Romantic tradition. He has enriched the Great Russian pianistic heritage with his own unorthodox interpretative conceptions, deeply poetic lyricism, and intensely emotional excitement. That excitement was evident in May 1999 when he joined Paavo Järvi as guest soloist with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in Paavo Järvi’s CSO debut. He has returned to perform with Maestro Järvi and the CSO twice since then, most recently in May 2005.
         
Mr. Toradze appears regularly with the world's leading orchestras including, in North America, the New York Philharmonic, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, and the symphony orchestras of Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Minnesota, Houston, Montreal, Toronto, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Seattle and Washington DC. Overseas, he appears regularly with the Kirov Orchestra, La Scala Philharmonic, Bayerische Rundfunk Orchester, St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Orchestre National de France, City of Birmingham Symphony, London’s Symphony, Philharmonic and Philharmonia Orchestras, Israel Philharmonic and the orchestras of Germany, Poland, Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Finland, Norway, Sweden and Italy. In June 2003, he made his triumphant debut with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Vladimir Jurowski.

Mr. Toradze’s recording of all five Prokofiev concertos with Valery Gergiev and the Kirov Orchestra for the Philips label is acclaimed by critics as definitive. His recording of Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 3 was named by International Piano Quarterly as “historically the best on record” (from among over 70 recordings). Other highly successful recordings have included Scriabin's Prometheus: The Poem of Fire, with the Kirov Orchestra and Valery Gergiev, as well as recital albums of the works of Mussorgsky, Stravinsky, Ravel and Prokofiev for the Angel/EMI label.

Mr. Toradze regularly participates in summer music festivals including Salzburg, the White Nights in St. Petersburg, London's BBC Proms concerts, Edinburgh, Rotterdam, Mikkeli (Finland), the Hollywood Bowl, Saratoga and Ravinia.
               
Born in 1952 in Tbilisi, 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 as the Martin Endowed Chair Professor of Piano at Indiana University South Bend, where he has created a teaching environment that is unparalleled in its unique concept. The members of the multi-national Toradze Piano Studio have developed into a worldwide touring ensemble that has gathered great critical acclaim on an international level. In the 2002-2003 season, the Studio appeared in New York performing the complete cycle of Bach solo concerti, as well as Scriabin’s complete sonata cycle. The Studio has also performed projects detailing the piano and chamber works of 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.