In 1991, at the International Mozart Competition in Salzburg, a young Russian pianist won the Grand Prize – which was the first time since 1956 that the Grand Prize had been awarded in this competition. It was Andrei Pisarev.
On October 10, 2006, the reviewer Gunilla Boström wrote in Swedish newspaper Helsingborgs Dagblad: “In April 2004 I believed that Andrei Pisarev was the best pianist I have ever heard, and this opinion remains after his recital… The expression world pianist is not an exaggeration regarding him…”
Besides the Mozart Competition, Andrei Pisarev won the First Prize in the Rachmaninoff International Competition (Moscow, 1983) as well as the First Prize in the Unisa International Piano Competition and special prizes for the best performances of a classical sonata and a Mozart concerto (Pretoria, 1992).
The German newspaper Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung wrote about Andrei Pisarev: “His performance cannot be forgotten… The pianist presented such impressive music, that is rarely heard. The fact that his playing is distinguished for virtuosity – is of no doubt. Because that is the basis for transparent sounding of music by Debussy, Liszt, Chopin and Kreisler/Rachmaninoff. His performance was really transparent. The sounds of the Sonata by Scarlatti sparkled like clear radiant water drops. The Suite Bergamasque by Debussy sounded as a canvas painted with clear bright colours.”
Andrei Pisarev has a wide repertoire and feels equally at home when he performs Bach, Mozart, Liszt, Chopin, Rachmaninoff, Debussy, Prokofiev, Shostakovich.
All those competitions opened the doors of the most prestigious concert halls for the artist and brought engagements from the world’s best symphony orchestras, such as the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, RAI Milano Orchestra, Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra, Russian National Orchestra, St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra. Both solo recitals and concerts with the orchestra were acclaimed by the audience and critics in the USA, South and Central America, Europe, Japan, China, South Korea, Taiwan, besides all Russia.
