Alexander Rosenblatt

Alexander Rosenblatt (1956) is a brilliant concert pianist and composer who combines different musical styles in his works with virtuosity and wit. His varied œuvre (he has written chamber, concert and ballet music as well as jazz compositions) includes a long list of variations, fantasias and suites on themes by well-known composers. "I have a special love for compositions on other people's themes. My first experience was with jazz variations on a theme by Paganini. When my musician friends heard of the concept, they thought I was crazy, but the premiere demonstrated the opposite. The audience gave standing ovations to the piece and the performance, accompanied by enthusiastic shouts. As one of my friends said, "No one has 'damaged' other people's classical music more than Rosenblatt..." Of course, to work with other people's material is an audacious and risky thing to do," the composer says with his sparkling sense of humor. Alexander Rosenblatt was born in Moscow into a musical family (his father was a violinist, his mother a pianist). He graduated from the Moscow Conservatoire with two majors: piano (under Prof. Pavel Messner) and composition (under Prof. Karen Khachaturian). He was the first student there to graduate with a research thesis on jazz - Piano Jazz Performance in the United States from 1940-1960. From 1983-1990 he taught at the jazz faculty of the Gnessin Academy of Music in Moscow (music history, principles of jazz pianism, jazz ensembles, jazz harmony and jazz orchestration). He is currently a freelance pianist and composer. He performs as a soloist and in piano duos with Oleg Sinkin or Nikolai Tokaryov. He works with world famous musicians and ensembles. His compositions are performed all over the world, many of them published by the prestigious Schott Music publishing house. In recent years, Alexander Rosenblatt has composed a Violin Concerto (dedicated to Leopold Mozart), Chekhov's Kasztanka for reader and orchestra, Jazz-Rococo Variations for cello and orchestra, and the Fantasia-Humoresque Verdi Meets Rossini (for trumpet and chamber orchestra commissioned by Sergei Nakaryakov ), Sonata No. 4 for piano "Christina", 8 Jazz Etudes, Suite for 5-string electronic viola with string orchestra, In Latino Rhythms for piano four hands, Suzhou Gardens (piece in Chinese style), etc.