Alexander Karpeyev began playing the piano at age seven, studying at the Children’s Music School in Saratov. In 2000 he entered the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatoire where he studied with Professors Alexander Mndoyants and Vera Gornostayeva. He graduated with the highest honours in 2005 and won a scholarship to the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London where he is a student of Professor Joan Havill. He is currently pursuing a doctorate jointly with City University of London.
Alexander has been a major prizewinner in many international competitions including the 1998 Ibla Grand Prize, Ragusa, Italy; the 2001 International Competition for Young Musicians, Enschede, Netherlands; the 2004 Competition Arthur Rubinstein in memoriam, Bydgoszcz, Poland; the 2004 Adilia Alieva International Piano Competition, Gaillard, France; the 2006 Tunbridge Wells International Concert Artist Competition and the 2009 Amy Brant International Piano competition, Birmingham (UK).
He won First Prizes at the 2006 Oxford Music Festival’s Professional Piano Recital Competition, the 2007 Dudley International Piano Competition and the Norah Sande Award 2008. He was awarded the Worshipful Company of Musician’s Silver Medal in 2008.
Alexander has given recitals in major venues in the UK (Purcell Room, Barbican, Cadogan Hall, Royal Festival Hall, Wigmore Hall and Queen Elizabeth Hall in London; Bridgewater Hall in Manchester). Abroad, he has performed as a soloist and chamber musician in Belgium, Greece, Japan, Poland, Russia, Spain, Switzerland and Ukraine. He has featured on BBC Radio 3 and the Performance Channel of Sky Television.
Recent highlights include performances of Rachmaninoff’s SecondPiano Concerto with the Amadeus Orchestra to capacity audiences in Wells and Exeter Cathedrals; recitals at the Wigmore Hall, Royal Festival Hall and Purcell Room; and his most recent concert in St.Martin-in-the-Fields with the Idomeneo Quartet.
“A pianist with athletic fingers, an ability to shape phrases without distorting the line, and a sensitivity that bodes well.” www.classicalsource.com
“The grasp of large-scale structure, the huge dynamic and tonal range, and above all, the flood-tide of emotion that swept from first bar to last, all made this performance worthy in its own right of the First Prize Karpeyev was finally awarded.” The Birmingham Post
“Brahms Second Piano concerto played with a rare blend of aristocratic authority and inward expression.” Mike Allen, Portsmouth Today
“Karpeyev’s artistic maturity was palpable, and it shone through every bar…” Richard Bratby, Birmingham Post
