Anna Rakitina & Behzod Abduraimov

The Uzbek pianist Behzod Abduraimov inspires audiences worldwide with his astonishing technique and rhapsodic flair. He won first prize at the London International Piano Competition for his playing back in 2009, even before studying with Stanislav Ioudenitch at the International Center for Music at Park University, Missouri. An esteemed virtuoso, Behzod Abduraimov has worked with many renowned orchestras such as the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the San Francisco Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra and the Orchestre de Paris under renowned conductors such as Valery Gergiev, Lorenzo Viotti, James Gaffigan, Jakub Hrůša, Santtu-Matias Rouvali and Gustavo Dudamel, and has performed at Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium, London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall and the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, among others.

Behzod Abduraimov’s 2012 debut CD with works by Liszt, Saint-Saëns and Prokofiev won the “Choc de Classica”, and he also recorded piano concertos by Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev for the Decca label. In 2020, his recordings of Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 3 and his “Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini” with the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra under James Gaffigan, recorded on Rachmaninov’s own piano, were nominated in several categories for the Opus Classica awards. His most recent album was released in 2021 with Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition”, among other works. There is also a DVD of his debut at the 2016 BBC Proms with the Munich Philharmonic under Valery Gergiev. In the 22/23 season he will appear at the Alte Oper Frankfurt, Amare Hall in The Hague, the Conrad Center in La Jolla, at festivals in Aspen, Verbier, the Rheingau and Lucerne, as well as in Berlin with the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and, for the first time, with the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin.