Alexei Borisovich Lyubimov (born September 16, 1944 in Moscow) is an outstanding Soviet and Russian pianist, harpsichordist, organist, conductor and teacher. In 2003 he was awarded the title of People's Artist of the Russian Federation.
Since 1968 Alexei Lyubimov has been a soloist with the Moscow State Academic Philharmonic. His performing repertoire covers a wide range of musical directions - from English Virginalists and French court music of the 18th century to contemporary “post music”.
Lyubimov is also known as the organizer and director of a number of chamber ensembles, such as Music - XX Century (1968-1975), the Moscow Baroque Quartet (1975-1982) and the Academy of Early Music (since 1982, together with T. Grindenko). He was also Artistic Director of the Early Music Ensemble of the Moscow Conservatory (1995-1997) and organizer of the Alternative Festival in Moscow in 1988-1991.
In 1999 Alexei Lyubimov initiated and became Artistic Director of the First Arnold Schoenberg Festival at the Moscow State Academic Philharmonic. Since 1991 he has also been Artistic Director of the St. Gallen Music Festival in Switzerland.
Alexei Lyubimov actively participates in various international festivals such as the I. Menuhin Festival in Gstaad, the G. Kremer Festival in Lokkenhaus, the Berlin and Salzburg Festivals and many others.
From 1997-2010 Alexei Lyubimov was Head of the Faculty of Historical and Contemporary Performing Arts (FISII) at the Moscow State Conservatory. He has also been a professor at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg since 1998.
Alexei Lyubimov's repertoire includes solo, ensemble works and works for piano or harpsichord and orchestra by composers such as I. S. Bach and his sons. Bach and his sons, F. Couperin, J. F. Rameau, G. Purcell, W. A. Mozart, J. Haydn, D. Bortniansky, L. van Beethoven, F. Schubert, R. Schumann, F. Chopin, F. Liszt, I. Brahms, M. Glinka, A. Scriabin, S. Rahman, S. Scriabin, M. Glinka, and others. Scriabin, S. Rachmaninoff, C. Debussy, A. Schoenberg, A. Webern, A. Berg, Ch. Ives, I. Stravinsky, B. Bartok, E. Villa-Lobos, S. Prokofiev, D. Shostakovich, D. Cage, V. Silvestrov, A. Pärt, V. Martynov, G. Ustvolskaya, A. Schnittke, S. Gubaidulina, E. Denisov, A. Volkonsky, G. Peletsis, A. Rabinovich, T. Mansurian, A. Knaifel and many others.
Alexei Lyubimov has performed with leading Russian and foreign ensembles such as the orchestras conducted by K. Kondrashin, D. Oistrakh, N. Rakhlin, G. Rozhdestvensky, M. Pletnev, V. Ashkenazy, F. Bruggen, R. Norrington, E.-P. Salonen, K. Hogwood, K. Nagano, V. Jurowski, N. Järvi and A. Mustonen. His chamber ensemble partners have included T. Grindenko, N. Gutman, O. Kagan, G. Schiff, A. Steyer, M. Pekarsky, A. Rudin, V. Ivanova, L. Davidova, I. Monighetti, A. Mustonen, S. Savenko and Y. Polubelov.
Alexei Lyubimov's profound understanding of various musical styles and mannerisms, precision and virtuoso skill were highly appreciated by contemporary composers who entrusted him with the first performance of their works and dedicated their opuses to him. For example, G. Ustvolskaya, V. Silvestrov, V. Suslin, A. Pärt, V. Martynov, P. Karmanov and other composers dedicated their works to Alexei Lyubimov.
