“One of the most capable, daring and interesting musicians of these days”, Peter Cossé, the prominent Austrian critic once described Konstantin Scherbakov.
Once a “Superstar for insiders” (Die Welt), Konstantin Scherbakov is today one of internationally renowned pianists who take a special place in the modern piano world. His immense contribution to the piano repertoire and recording catalogue are undisputed. The insatiable musical curiosity and an exceptional ability to quickly assimilate unconventional and highly complex texts, an analytical mind and unlimited virtuosity - these are the essential qualities that have accompanied Scherbakov on his journey across the ocean of piano literature.
Scherbakov’s approach to the composer he feels affinity with is simple – he plays every single piece written by that composer. So he plays everything Beethoven, Godowsky, Shostakovich, Respighi and Rachmaninoff wrote for the piano. Many such projects were recorded, Beethoven’s 32 sonatas and Liszt’s transcriptions of all nine symphonies, Godowsky’s oeuvre on 15 CD’s, Rachmaninoff, Shostakovich and Respighi complete piano works. The same applies to Scherbakov’s concerto repertoire which includes all works for piano and orchestra by such composers as Medtner, Respighi, Tschaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Arensky and Scriabin, of which almost all were recorded for the EMI Classics, Naxos, Marco Polo or Steinway & Sons labels, among others. Many of these recordings have been awarded important international prizes.
Boasting a phenomenal concerto repertoire of 60 concertos, Konstantin Scherbakov performed as soloist with some of the world’s finest orchestras under the baton of conductors Christian Thielemann, Yuri Simonov, Rudolf Barshai, Nello Santi, Kirill Petrenko, Christian Mandeal, Aldo Ceccato and Andrei Boreyko, among others.
Konstantin Scherbakov gave performances in some of the world’s most famous halls such as the Konzerthaus Berlin, Gewandhaus Leipzig, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Warsaw Philharmonic, Tonhalle Zurich, Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, Konzerthaus Wien, Rudolfinum Prague, Wigmore Hall London, KKL Lucerne, St. Petersburg Philharmonic Hall, National Concert Hall Taipei, Arts Center Seoul, Metropolitan Theatre Tokyo, Auditorio Nacional Madrid, Salle Gaveau and Théâtre Garnier Paris, Victoria Hall Singapore etc. He has been guest to important international music festivals such as Salzburg, Frankfurt, Bregenz, Bodensee, Lucerne, Klavier-Festival Ruhr, Bad Kissingen, Schubertiade Feldkirch and Schwarzenberg, Singapore, Zurich, Husum, Beethoven Festival Bonn, Liszt Festivals in Raiding and Weimar, Piano Festival Lucerne, to name just a few.
Konstantin Scherbakov studied in Moscow under Lev Naumov. He has won prizes at international competitions in Montreal, Bolzano, Athens, Rome and Zurich, and in 1983 he won the Rachmaninoff competition in Moscow. After an intensive 10 years’ period when he gave hundreds of concerts in the Soviet Union he made his European début at the XX Music Festival in Asolo, Italy in 1990 where he played the complete works by Rachmaninoff. Concert engagements in Western Europe followed.
A Swiss citizen, Konstantin Scherbakov has been professor at the Zurich University of Arts since 1998; many of his students received prizes at international piano competitions, most notably Yulianna Avdeeva, the winner of the 2010 Chopin Competition in Warsaw.
Konstantin Scherbakov has given masterclasses in universities around the globe; he has been a jury member of international competitions, such as ARD Munich, Antwerp, Busoni (Bolzano), Hamburg, Havana, Liszt (Weimar), Rio de Janeiro, Youth Tchaikovsky (Seoul) etc.
2023 marks Scherbakov’s 60th birthday and half a century on stage. These anniversaries will be celebrated by the release of the last, 15th program of one of his most genuine collections: the complete works for piano by Leopold Godowsky. But if something stands out, it’s the launch of one of the culminating projects in Scherbakov’s remarkable career: the audiovisual recording of all original piano works by Sergei Rachmaninoff in 6 programs commemorating the composer’s 150th anniversary which will be broadcast internationally on digital and TV platforms.
