Andrey Gugnin
Possessing an “extraordinarily versatile and agile technique, which serves an often inspired musical imagination” (Gramophone), pianist Andrey Gugnin is rapidly gaining international acclaim as a passionately virtuosic performer. In 2020, he received the Instrumental Award at the BBC Music Magazine Awards for his recording of Shostakovich: 24 Preludes – Piano Sonatas 1 & 2 (Hyperion). Since winning the prestigious Sydney International Piano Competition in 2016, Gugnin has gone from strength to strength in concerts and recordings which exhibit his impassioned interpretations.
In addition to winning in Sydney, Gugnin also won the Gold Medal and Audience Award at the XCI International Gina Bachauer Piano Competition in 2014, and second prize at the 2013 Beethoven International Piano Competition in Vienna.
Increasingly in demand as a concerto soloist, Gugnin has been invited to perform as a guest artist with notable orchestras worldwide, such as the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Mariinsky Symphony Orchestra, the State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia, the Netherlands Symphony Orchestra, Utah Symphony, West Australian Symphony Orchestra, and the Sydney Symphony, and has performed under the distinguished batons of Maestro Valery Gergiev, Jaap van Zweden, Reinbert de Leeuw, Daniel Raiskin, Stanislav Kochanovsky, and Asher Fisch. He has also collaborated with the Asko Schönberg ensemble, L’Orchestre de Chambre de Genève, Jerusalem Camerata, Camerata Salzburg, and on several occasions as the duo partner of violinist Tasmin Little.
As a recording artist, Gugnin has published a broad repertoire ranging from solo piano to symphonic works. His release of Liszt’s Transcendental Etudes (Piano Classics, 2018) was commended as Editor’s Choice, and distinguished Gugnin as “one to watch” (Gramophone). Other notable recordings include his duo programme with violinist Ioana Cristina Goicea (Atoll Records, 2019), an inspired selection of solo piano suites entitled “Pictures” (Steinway & Sons, 2016), and a collection of piano duets with Vadim Kholodenko (Delos International, 2010). Gugnin has also extensively recorded for TVs and radios in Russia, the Netherlands, Croatia, Austria, Australia, Switzerland, and the USA. Currently, Gugnin continues his collaboration with Hyperion Records. His latest album of complete Scriabin’s Mazurkas (2022) was awarded the Recording of the Month by Limelight Magazine.
In addition to these recordings, Gugnin’s Shostakovich Concertos (Delos International, 2007) was featured on the soundtrack of Steven Spielberg’s Oscar®-winning film Bridge of Spies. Gugnin’s expanding list of performance venues includes Musikverein, Auditorio Nacional, Victoria Hall, Carnegie Hall, Abravanel Hall, Sydney Opera House, the Great Hall of the Moscow State Conservatory, Mariinsky Concert Hall, the Louvre, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Space, and Hamarikyu Asahi Hall. Gugnin has also participated in a plethora of international festivals, including Verbier Festival, Ruhr Piano Festival, Mariinsky International Festival, Dubrovnik Summer Festival, the Ohrid Summer Festival, and the Duszniki Chopin International Festival.
In 2020-21, as allowed by the COVID-19 pandemic, Gugnin embarked on performing numerous solo recitals at prestigious venues in Russia. Gugnin joined Tasmin Little in her farewell concert at the Southbank Centre as one of her four favourite pianists to collaborate with, which was broadcast live on BBC Radio 3 and for which Gugnin was praised for his “emphatic, mesmerising playing” (Bachtrack).
The 2022-23 season will see Gugnin performing solo recitals across Europe and America, including Vienna’s Ehrbar Hall, Lithuanian National Philharmonic Hall in Vilnius, and Rose Wagner Performing Arts Centre in Salt Lake City. Gugnin will also showcase a number of piano concertos, including Ravel’s Piano Concerto for the Left Hand with Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 3 with Nagoya Philharmonic Orchestra, Stravinsky’s Concerto for Piano and Wind Instruments with Armenian State Symphony Orchestra, and Grieg’s Piano concerto with South Czech Philharmonic Orchestra.
