Music and books combine in an upcoming concert by pianist Alexey Pudinov at Toronto’s Heliconian Hall. Inglewood Press is presenting the Russian-born, German-based pianist in an event that lets audience members peruse books and sip cocktails as they listen to the music.
The program on August 6 will include works by Brahms and Rachmaninoff, along with pieces by other European, Ukrainian and Tasmanian composers.
Pianist Alexey Pudinov
After early music lessons as a child in his native Russia, Alexey went on to study at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Frankfurt (Germany), the Royal College of Music London, and Royal Northern College of Music Mancheser (UK). His mentors have included Canadian composer Kelly-Marie Murphy and noted American pianist and pedagogue Leon Fleisher, among a long list of notable artists and educators.
He’s coming to Toronto on the heels of a series of UK concerts, and continues in Germany later in August. The Russian-born, German-based pianist travels the world’s concert circuit, including the occasional Toronto connection. He was a Fellow at the Toronto Summer Music from 2015 to 2019, and was interviewed by TSO Concertmaster Jonathan Crow in 2021 on the release of his last album, Neue Bahnen on the KALEIDOS Musikeditionen label.
It was his second release, after the success of his debut album, a duo with fellow pianist Katerina Moskaleva titled Evocation of Dance in 2019. A dedicated chamber musician as well as a soloist, he founded AD Festival Days, an international collaborative chamber music series that ran for two years prior to the pandemic in the UK. Alexey also co-founded the prize-winning Piano Duo TWO4PIANO and the Frankfurt Piano Trio.
Alexey has performed as a guest of the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, served as Artist in Residence at Pianofest in the Hamptons, and competed in international competitions in North America, Finland, Germany, Austria, Italy, and to the Czech Republic. He has performed in recitals and concerts in Toronto on several occasions in recent years.
Prize wins include:
- The “Gershwin Best Performance Prize” 2015 in New York;
- The Steinway Prize 2014;
- The First LMN Menuhin Prize 2016 in Frankfurt;
- The First Prize of the North West International Piano Ensemble Competition 2018 in Vancouver, Canada.
Alexey has worked with some of the classical music world’s leading artists, including Jonathan Crow, Johannes Moser, and the Eliot Quartet, among others. He also includes teaching on his CV.
Today he’s based in Frankfurt.
Concert Details
Alexey will be joined on some pieces by fellow former TSM Fellow, violinist Aysel Taghi-Zada, and Ukrainian pianist Larisa Zinchenko.
The concert takes place on August 6 at 6 p.m. at Heliconian Hall on a Pay-What-You-Wish basis. A cash bar will be available.
Along with the music, there will be books by Inglewood Press on sale, along with some of the authors on hand to meet and mingle with. Inglewood Press is an independent Canadian book publisher that specializes in creative works of fiction and non-fiction, often with local/Canadian themes, including a series of books about ballet by the National Ballet’s Ballet Master, Lindsay Fischer.
- The doors will open at 5:30 p.m.
- Due to limited space, please RSVP here if you’d like to attend.
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