In his North American debut at the Ninth Van
Cliburn International Piano Competition in 1993,
Russian pianist, Valery Kuleshov, was awarded
the Silver Medal as well as the Prize for Best
Performance of the Commissioned Work, Ghost
Waltzes, by American composer, Morton Gould.
The Dallas Morning News wrote of his first
recital during the competition: “He proceeded
to light up the sky, setting off pyrotechnical
rockets of sound and showering the audience
with sweeps of notes as exciting as they were
exceptional.” His performance in the final
round prompted the Le Monde reviewer to exclaim,
“What sound! What allure! What a musician!”
Valery Kuleshov was born in 1962 in Chelyabinsk,
Russia. At the age of seven, he entered the
Central Musical School of the Moscow Conservatory.
At the age of nine, he made his concert debut
with a symphony orchestra in the Great Hall
of the Moscow Conservatory. He earned his Master’s
Degree at Gnessin Academy of Music and his Doctoral
Degree from the State Jewish Academy, both in
Moscow. He studied with some of the best Russian
pianists, including Dmitry Bashkirov, Nikolai
Petrov, and Vladimir Tropp. In addition, Mr.
Kuleshov studied at the International Piano
Foundation in Italy with the world’s most
acclaimed piano teachers, including Karl Ulrich
Schnabel and Leon Fleischer.
Mr. Kuleshov’s first major international
success was at the Ferruccio Busoni International
Piano Competition in Italy in 1987, where he
became one of two winners, receiving the Gold
Medal. That year, he began intensive concert
activity in Russia and abroad.
The Soviet Culture newspaper, in an article
entitled “The Mysterious Unrecognized
Genius— A New Horowitz” wrote: “….Kuleshov
— the person of a unique virtuoso gift.
He has managed to revive and re-create the world
of great virtuosos of the past. A deep penetration
into the essence of music, and a most laborious
operation over the sound are peculiar to him.
His performance of Schumann’s Kreisleriana
at the competition was just amazing, and this
composition can be mastered only by mature musicians.”
The name of Vladimir Horowitz was not accidentally
mentioned. Valery Kuleshov has accomplished
the unique and difficult work of writing out,
from listening only to the LP recordings, the
great master’s unpublished piano transcriptions.
After listening to the recordings of his transcriptions
played by Mr. Kuleshov, Vladimir Horowitz wrote
to the young musician: “I was not only
delighted by your fantastic performances, but
I congratulate you on your keen ear and great
patience that were required to write out, note
by note, the scores of these unpublished transcriptions,
by listening to my recordings.” (October
6, 1987).
Documented by historic photographs, their meeting
in 1989 at Horowitz’s apartment in New
York was touching and intimate. The maestro
not only listened to the young virtuoso play,
but also gave him most valuable advice and offered
to give him consultations free of charge. The
great pianist’s death left this plan unrealized.
Valery Kuleshov’s recording career includes
his award-winning performance at the Ninth Van
Cliburn Competition which was released on CD
worldwide on the Philips label. The Gramophone
review stated, “Valery Kuleshov declares
his nationality in every bar, roaring and whispering
Liszt's bravura to the heavens, and I doubt
whether the Six Paganini Eludes have often been
given with such a gloriously spontaneous verve
and glitter.” In addition, these performances
were featured in the award-winning documentary,
A Life in Music, on the PBS network. Previous
reordings were released for JVC Victor, Mezhdunarodnaya
Kniga (Gramophone), and MCA Classic labels.
In 1997, by decree of the President of Russia,
Boris Yeltsin, Valery Kuleshov was awarded the
rare distinction “Honored Artist of the
Russian Federation.”
Soon after this recognition, he became the
single winner of the Pro Piano International
Piano Competition in New York and was a great
success later in October of the same year in
his Carnegie Hall recital.
In addition to maintaining an international
performing schedule, Valery Kuleshov has, since
1999, served as artist-in-residence at the University
of Central Oklahoma in Edmond, Oklahoma. His
upcoming concert schedule will include performances
in North America, South America, Russia, Italy,
Spain, and Canada. A new solo album “HOMMAGE
A HOROWITZ” was recorded in Stockholm,
Sweden in the summer of 2000 (BBC Music Magazine).
In 2001 another new recording was released on
Bel Air Music label. It was recorded in Moscow,
Russia and contains Rachmaninov Piano Concerto#3
and Tchaikovsky’s Concert Fantasy Op.56
with the Russian State Orchestra.
Among those who belong to the new generation
of musicians, Valery Kuleshov’s name is
in the centre of attention of the public, press,
radio and television today. With good reason
one can assert that Valery Kuleshov has unique
artistic potential and a great future is in
store for him.
