Concert Hall

Leonid Karev graduated from the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatoire, where he studied composition under Professor K. K. Batashov, orchestration under Yu. M. Butsko and organ and piano under N. N. Gureyev and Professor Ye. N. Natanson. 
Since 1992 Leonid Karev has continued his studies in France under Professors Alain Bancquart Michel Merlet (composition) and Michel Chapuis, André Isoir and Jean Guillou (organ at the Paris and Boulogne Conservatoires) as well as at the Muraltengutes (Zurich) and the private conservatoire École Normale de Musique de Paris.

Leonid Karev has been a prize-winner at several international organ and composition competitions including U.F.A.M. (Paris, 1996), the Marcel Dupré Competition (Chartres, 1998), the Gino Contili Competition (Messina, 2001) and the Guido d’Arezzo Competition (Arezzo, 2002). 
Karev is currently the organist at the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin in Paris and a professor at the Paris Conservatoire. He gives recitals at festivals in Europe, Russia and America. 
Karev’s works as a composer include Dulce memoriae for symphony orchestra, Mots interrompus for organ and symphony orchestra, La Chanson des Pierres for narrator and orchestra and sonatas for organ, two pianos, violin and piano as well as numerous other pieces for various instruments. 
According to the reviewer of the Moscow Music Herald, the “compositional integrity, technically complex yet accessible musical language, the stylistic unity and caring relationship to the material quoted and the sound possibilities of the instrumental make-up – these are the basic features of this composer’s music.”