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Alexander Ghindin, who has been unanimously acclaimed by critics and music lovers as one of the most talented and original pianists of the present day, will perform at 7:30 p.m. on Sunday, April 27 in the Western Washington University Performing Arts Center Concert Hall as part of the University’s annual Sanford-Hill Piano Series.

The first half of the evening features works of Vivaldi and Rachmaninoff; the second half of the performance features compositions by Albéniz, Granados, and Ravel’s “La Valse,” as transcribed by Ghindin. The full concert program may be found at wwu.edu/sanfordhill/
ghindin.shtml#program.

Ghindin was born in 1977 in Moscow, where at the age of 17 he became the youngest-ever laureate of the International Tchaikovsky Competition. In 2007 he was a first-prize winner at the International Piano Competition in Cleveland, Ohio. Art and Life Magazine said Ghindin “made a staggering impression on the audience, demonstrating such a high level of mastery that makes every one of his performances special and unforgettable.” Three years later, he went on to win first prize at the International Piano Competition of Santa Catarina in Florianópolis, Brazil.

In 2006, as part of the prestigious Osaka Festival, Ghindin gave a series of concerts with the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra. Ghindin is currently the Artistic Director of his own concert series at one of Russia’s most distinguished concert venues, the Svetlanov Hall of the Moscow International Performing Arts Center.

Ghindin appears courtesy of the Sanford-Hill Piano Series. Created in 2002, the series presents professional pianists from around the world to generate scholarship funds for Western’s Piano program. The series also provides master classes for Western students, which are free and open to the public to attend as audience members. Ghindin’s master class is TBA.

Tickets for the April 27 performance are available at tickets.wwu.edu, or by calling (360) 650-6146.