Around the Music Festival

Russian pianist Sergei Dorensky died on August 26 at the age of 88. While growing up a pianist at his alma mater Moscow Conservatory, he has been a judge at piano competitions such as Tchaikovsky, Chopin and Hamamatsu, and has been a major player in international competitions.

Dorensky was born in Moscow in 1931. He studied at the Central School of Music, Moscow Conservatory. He studied under Grigory Ginzburg. He is known as a primary disciple of the “Ginzburg School”, one of the five largest piano schools in Russia.

He won the first prize at the 5th World Youth Student Festival in Warsaw in 1955, while studying at the Conservatory. In 1957, he won the second prize at the Rio de Janeiro International Piano Competition.

After completing the Graduate School of Music in 1957, he became a teacher at his alma mater, and after working as a professor, became the dean of the piano department in 1978. From 1994 to 1997, he also oversaw the special department of piano.

He has taught many pianists include Nikolai Lugansky, Denis Matsuev, Alexander Shtarkman, Olga Kern, Feodor Amirov, and Andrei Pisarev. He is said to have won over 100 international contest winners.

In 1988, he was awarded the title “People’s Artist” by the Soviet Government, and was decorated the Order of Friendship in 2007. In 2015, He was awarded “The Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette” in Japan.

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