Alexander Gavrylyuk: In Recital, May 8, 2007
VAI DVD 4433, $29.95

The first VAI DVD featuring this brilliant young Russian pianist won rave reviews from the world’s press. The headline in the Gramophone Magazine review cautioned, “Fasten your seatbelts” but went on to praise his Haydn as well as the more pyrotechnical aspects of his wide-ranging program. For his second DVD release, also captured live at the Miami International Piano Festival, Gavrylyuk offers elegant Mozart and lyrical Schubert along with thunderous Rachmaninoff and Balakirev, and ending with a group of encores highlighting the pianist’s amazing technical arsenal. Stereo, Color, 105 min., All regions

Bach-Busoni: Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565

Mozart: Sonata in D major, K 576

Schubert: Sonata in A major, D 664/Op. 120

Rachmaninoff: Nine Etudes-Tableaux, Op. 39

Moszkowski: Etude in A-flat major, Op. 72, No. 11

Balakirev: Islamey

Rachmaninoff: Prelude in G-sharp minor, Op. 32, No. 12

Mozart-Volodos: Concert Paraphrase on Rondo alla Turca

Live performance recorded May 8, 2007 at the Amaturo Theater Broward Center for the Performing Arts, Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Alexander Gavrylyuk was born in 1984 in the Ukraine and began his piano studies at the age of seven. He gave his first concerto performance when he was nine years old. In 1996 he was a prize winner in Senigallia, Italy and in 1997 was a 2nd-prize winner at the second Horowitz International Piano Competition in Kiev. The next big step for Alexander was going back to compete at the third Horowitz International Piano Competition and winning the coveted First Prize and Gold Medal in 1999.

Proclaimed “the best sixteen-year-old pianist of the late twentieth century” by critics in Japan in November 2000 after winning First Prize in the prestigious Hamamatsu International Piano Competition in Japan, he was the youngest in a field of competitors ranging in age from sixteen to thirty-two. Alexander returned regularly, touring Japan and performing to full houses in Suntory Hall and Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall.

Alexander lived in Sydney, Australia from 1998-2006. His Australian performances included the “Stars of the Future” series at Government House in 1998, a proms concert for the Festival of Sydney (1999). He has often performed for both radio (ABC Classic FM) and television (ABC and SBS). His Australian concert activities in more recent years included recitals at the Sydney Opera House, the City Recital Hall in Sydney as well as performances with the Melbourne Symphony and the West Australian Symphony Orchestras in 2006.

In April 2005, Alexander won First Prize in the renowned Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Masters Competition, as well as the prize for Best Performance of a Classical Concerto. Shortly thereafter he was videotaped in a wide-ranging, critically acclaimed recital at the Miami International Piano Festival where he had made his American debut two years earlier. Alexander Gavrylyuk Live in Recital [VAI DVD 4357and CD 1256-2] went on to receive four- and five- star ratings in the international press.

Alexander has performed with the Russian National Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, Osaka Philharmonic Orchestra, Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, Israeli Chamber Orchestra, Kiev Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Melbourne and West Australian Symphony Orchestras. He has performed under the baton of Vladimir Spivakov, Leif Segerstam, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Igor Gruppman, and Dan Ettinger.

In January 2007, Alexander made his solo debut recital at the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory at the invitation of Nikolai Petrov. Currently based in Moscow, Alexander has also performed a solo recital at the Kremlin.