Alexander Toradze is rightly recognised as a as one of the most virtuoso performers of the Romantic tradition. He has enriched the artistic legacy of the great Russian pianists with his own unorthodox interpretations, deeply poetic lyricism and intensely emotional passion.
Together with Valery Gergiev and the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra, Alexander Toradze has recorded all five Prokofiev concerti for Philips, and critics have hailed this recording as definitive. His recording of Prokofiev's Piano Concert No. 3 was named by International Piano Quarterly as "historically the best on record" (from among over seventy other existing recordings). Other highly successful recordings have included Scriabin’s musical poem Prometheus (The Poem of Fire) with the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra under Valery Gergiev as well as recordings of works by Musorgsky, Stravinsky, Ravel and Prokofiev for the Angel/EMI label.
The pianist regularly appears with the world’s leading orchestras under such great conductors of the present day as Valery Gergiev, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Mikko Franck, Paavo and Kristjan Jдrvi, Vladimir Jurowski and Gianandrea Noseda.
Alexander Toradze moreover regularly takes part in numerous summer music festivals including the Salzburg Festival, the Stars of the White Nights in St Petersburg, London’s BBC Proms concerts, Chicago’s Ravinia Festival and festivals in Edinburgh, Rotterdam, Mikkeli (Finland), the Hollywood Bowl and Saratoga. Toradze’s recent engagements include performances with the BBC Philharmonic and Swedish Radio Orchestras under Gianandrea Noseda, the London Symphony and the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra under Valery Gergiev, the Cincinnati Symphony under Paavo Jдrvi and the London Philharmonic under Vladimir Jurowski and Jukka-Pekka Saraste. He has also appeared with the Orchestre National de France, the Gulbenkian Orchestra and the Czech and the Dresden Philharmonic Orchestras.
In March 2010 Alexander Toradze took part in an American tour with the London Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Vladimir Jurowski, including a concert at the Avery Fisher Hall in New York. The musician’s plans for the future include the opening concert celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Stresa Festival (Italy) under Gianandrea Noseda and the recording of both Shostakovich Piano Concerti with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra under Paavo Jдrvi.
Born in Tbilisi, Alexander Toradze graduated from the Tchaikovsky Conservatoire in Moscow and soon became a professor there. In 1983 he emigrated to the USA and, in 1991, he was appointed a Staff Professor at the Indiana University in South Bend, State of Indiana, where he has created a teaching environment that is unparalleled in its unique concept. Musicians from various countries who attend the Toradze Piano Studio tour successfully around the globe.