Rudy, Mikhail

Rudy, Mikhail , notable Russian-born French pianist; b. Tashkent, April 3, 1953. He studied at the Moscow Cons. (1969–75), where he was a student of Yakov Flier. In 1972 he was a prizewinner in the Bach Competition in Leipzig, and in 1975 he captured 1^stprize in the Long-Thibaud Competition in Paris. In 1977 he made his debut in the West as a soloist in Beethoven’s Triple Concerto in Paris. Rudy became a naturalized French citizen in 1980. In 1981 he made his U.S. debut as a soloist with the Cleveland Orch. under Maazel’s direction. In 1987 he made his first appearance at the Salzburg Easter Festival under Karajan’s baton. His London debut followed in 1988 when he was engaged as a soloist with the London Sym. Orch. conducted by Tilson Thomas. Rudy returned to Russia for the first time in 12 years of exile in 1989, and was the first soloist to record with the St. Petersburg Phil, in 30 years with Jansons conducting. Their collaboration in all of the Rachmaninoff concertos won them the Grand Prix de Disque. In 1994 he appeared as a soloist with the Berlin Phil, with Jansons conducting. He appeared in recital at London’s Wigmore Hall in 1997. As a soloist, he also played with many other orchs., among them the Concertgebouw Orch. in Amsterdam, the Residentie Orch. in The Hague, the Rotterdam Phil., the Munich Phil., the Dresden State Orch., the London Phil., the Philharmonia Orch. in London, the Philadelphia Orch., the Boston Sym. Orch., the Pittsburgh Sym. Orch., the Houston Sym. Orch., the St. Louis Sym. Orch., the Montreal Sym. Orch., and the Indianapolis Sym. Orch. His festival engagements have taken him to the Edinburgh Festival, the Aldeburgh Festival, the Berlin Festival, the Vienna Festival, the Salzburg Festival, and the Schleswig-Holstein Festival. His expansive repertoire ranges from Bach to the moderns. While he is especially admired for his performances of such Russian masters as Scriabin, Rachmaninoff, Stravinsky, Prokofiev, and Shostakovich, he has won distinction for his interpretations of the Austro-German masters of the 18^th and 19^thcenturies as well as of such other notable composers as Chopin, Debussy, Ravel, Bartók, and Messiaen. Rudy has made a transcription for piano of Stravinsky’s complete Petrouchka.

—Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire