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Alexander Toradze is universally recognized as a masterful virtuoso in the grand Romantic tradition. He has enriched the Great Russian pianistic heritage with his own unorthodox interpretative conceptions, deeply poetic lyricism, and intensely emotional excitement.
Toradze has appeared as soloist with major orchestras in the world, such as the Berlin Philharmonic, London Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Filarmonica della Scala, Orchestra di Santa Cecilia, Mariinsky Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic, NHK Symphony Orchestra. Additionally, he regularly takes part in many summer music festivals including those of Salzburg, the White Nights in St. Petersburg, London’s BBC Proms concerts, Edinburgh, Rotterdam, Mikkeli (Finland), the Hollywood Bowl, Saratoga and Ravinia.
Among his best friends, some of the leading conductors of today such as Valery Gergiev, Esa Pekka Salonen, Jukka Pekka Saraste, Mikko Frank, Neeme, Paavo and Kristjan Järvi, Vladimir Jurowski and Gianandrea Noseda, but also emerging talents such as Daniele Rustioni and Dima Slobodeniouk.
Toradze's recording of all five Prokofiev concertos with Valery Gergiev and the Kirov Orchestra for the Philips label is acclaimed by critics as definitive. His recording of Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 3 was named by International Piano Quarterly as "historically the best on record" (from among over seventy recordings). Other highly successful recordings have included Scriabin's Prometheus: The Poem of Fire, with the Kirov Orchestra, Valery Gergiev conducting as well as recital albums of the works of Mussorgsky, Stravinsky, Ravel and Prokofiev for the Angel/EMI label. The recording of both Shostakovich Piano concerti with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra under Paavo Järvi has been considered by the Frankfurter Allgemeine as an historical achievement of the artist’s career.
Born in Tbilisi (Georgia), Alexander Toradze graduated from the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow and soon became a professor there. In 1983 he moved permanently to the United States and in 1991 was appointed as the Martin endowed Professor of Piano at the Indiana University South Bend, where he has created a teaching environment that is unparalleled in its unique concept. The members of the multi-national Toradze Piano Studio have developed into a worldwide touring ensemble that has performed projects detailing the piano and chamber works of Rachmaninov, Prokofiev, Dvorak, Stravinsky and Shostakovich in Europe and in the United States. In 2012 the Toradze Piano Studio has realized a revolutionary Radio program by Joseph Horowitz in collaboration with the network WFMT dedicated to Stravinsky and Rachmaninoff: “Russian Accents”.