Petrov, Nikolai (Arnoldovich)

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Petrov, Nikolai (Arnoldovich)

Petrov, Nikolai (Arnoldovich), outstanding Russian pianist; b. Moscow, April 14, 1943. He studied with Tatiana Kestner at the Moscow Central Music School (1951–61), then continued his training with Ya-kov Zak at the Moscow Cons, (graduated, 1967). He won 2nd prize in both the Van Cliburn (1962) and Queen Elisabeth of Belgium (1964) competitions; then pursued a remarkable career as a virtuoso, touring widely in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe; also performed in Western Europe and North America. As a result of the renewed U.S.-Soviet cultural exchange program, he appeared as soloist with Yuri Termirkanov and the N.Y. Phil, at N.Y’s Avery Fisher Hall in 1986. His repertoire ranges from Classical to contemporary Soviet music; he has given first performances of works by Khachaturian, Khrennikov, Shchedrin, and other Soviet composers, and also tackled the original version of the Liszt transcriptions of the Paganini études.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire