Born in Leningrad in 1950, Sokolov attended a special music school before being admitted to the Leningrad Conservatory in 1960. When he was 16, a jury headed by Emil Gilels unanimously declared him the winner of the Third International Tchaikovsky Piano Competition, a triumph that launched his performance career. He regularly performs concerts in the world's most prestigious concert halls, including Vienna's Musikverein, the Berliner Philharmonie, Amsterdam's Concertgebouw and New York's Carnegie Hall. His extensive repertoire ranges from Bach to Schönberg, and the seriousness and originality of his musical interpretation and the precision of his performance style captivate both audiences and critics wherever he plays. His style is distinctive in that he makes very little use of the pedals, while his keyboard technique is of the highest order, allowing him to elicit an immense variety of sounds from the piano. His poetic playing abounds in unique solutions, making even the most familiar pieces seem astonishingly fresh when he performs them.

Presented by: Jakobi Koncert Kft.