Nikolai Tokarev, Piano

»This pianist is an exceptional phenomenon in his generation.« (Rondo Magazine)

The Russian pianist Nikolai Tokarev has made a name for himself from a former child prodigy to an internationally acclaimed interpreter of his generation. He comes from a well-known family of musicians and was born in Moscow in 1983. At the age of five, he entered the Moscow Gnessin School for highly gifted young musicians. Nikolai Tokarev continued his studies at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester in 2003 and graduated with the highest honours in 2004. Further studies with Barbara Szczepanska in Düsseldorf and in master classes with Rudolf Buchbinder in Zurich completed his education.

In 2000 Nikolai Tokarev won the Grand Prix at the 10th Eurovision Grand Prix of Young Musicians in Bergen, Norway. In 2006 he was a prizewinner at the Concours Géza Anda in Zurich, where he also won the Géza Anda Audience Prize for his interpretation of Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 3 accompanied by the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich. In the same year he received the prize for the best interpretation of a Mozart piano concerto at the Orpheum-Musiktage with the Camerata Salzburg in the Tonhalle Zurich.

Nikolai Tokarev appears worldwide in recitals and as a soloist with renowned ensembles. He has performed with the Russian National Philharmonic Orchestra, the NHK Symphony Orchestra from Tokyo, the Vienna and Zurich Chamber Orchestras, the DSO Berlin, the Gewandhaus Orchestra, the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, the NDR Symphony Orchestra, the Bochum Symphony Orchestra, the Düsseldorf Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo, the English Chamber Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the London Philharmonia Orchestra. Renowned conductors such as Mario Venzago, Jiri Kout, Jiří Bělohlávek, Tugan Sokhiev, Julian Kuerti, Maxim Vengerov and Vladimir Spivakov were among his musical partners. He is a regular guest at international festivals such as the Ludwigsburger Schlossfestspiele, Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, Rheingau Musik Festival, Davos Festival, Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and the Kissinger Sommer.

Nikolai Tokarev has had an exclusive contract with Sony Music since 2006. There his first album, a recital with works by Schubert, Chopin and Alexander Rosenblatt, appeared in 2007 and has been awarded several prizes, including the Echo-Klassik. Further recordings with Sony Classical followed, including the solo CDs French Album, Black Swan Fantasy and Homage to Horowitz as well as concert recordings with the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra (cond. Olari Elts) and the Russian National Philharmonic Orchestra (cond. Vladimir Spivakov).