Winner of the First Prize in the 2010 Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels at the ge of 23, Denis Kozhukhin has established himself as one of the greatest pianists of his generation.
Kozhukhin’s performances have been praised by critics as “spellbinding”, “imperious” and “mesmerizing”. Technically flawless, Kozhukhin combines wisely the brilliance and power of his playing with a masterful sense of form, maturity, and a very unique approach.
Kozhukhin frequently appears with many of the leading international orchestras, such as Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, London Symphony, Staatskapelle Berlin, Israel Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Rotterdam Philharmonic, London Philharmonic, Philharmonia Orchestra, NDR Radiophilharmonie, Vienna Symphony, St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic and Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, among others. In 2018 he debuted at the BBC Proms, performing Shostakovich Piano Concerto No.2 with the Aurora Orchestra.
The 20/21 brings debuts with Los Angeles Philharmonic, Malmo Symphony, Antwerp Symphony, ADDA Orchestra, Bilbao Symphony, Szcezcin Philharmonic, returns to the Philharmonia Orchestra, London Philharmonic, BBC Scottish Symphony, Belgium National Symphony, Moscow State Symphony Orchestra, St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Iceland Symphony, Gavle Symphony, Colorado Symphony and NCPA Orchestra. Denis will tour in Europe and USA with Janine Jansen and appear in recital at the Boulez Saal, Elbphilharmonie, Wiener Konzerthaus, Casa da Musica, Harpa, and will be guest artist at the Prague Spring Festival, Malta International Festival, Klavier Ruhr Festival, Armenia Festival and Jerusalem Chamber Music Festival.
His most recent recording featuring C. Franck’s Symphonic Variations with the Luxembourg Philharmonic under Gustavo Gimeno was released by Pentatone in June 2020, obtaining rave reviews. His last solo album, including Mendelssohn’s Songs without words and Grieg’s Lyric Pieces, was picked by Gramophone as “album of the month” as well as nominated to the 2020 Opus Klassik Awards in the categories of Solo recording and Instrumentalist of the year.
An avid chamber musician, Kozhukhin is frequently invited to the most renowned festivals and collaborates with such artists as Janine Jansen, Jörg Widmann, Julian Rachlin, Vadim Repin, Leonidas Kavakos, Michael Barenboim, Vilde Frang, Renaud and Gautier Capuçon, the Jerusalem Quartet, the Pavel Haas Quartet, Elena Bashkirova, Radovan Vlatkovic, Emmanuel Pahud, Alisa Weilerstein, Nicolas Alstaedt, Julian Steckel, and Pablo Ferrández, among others.
Born in Nizhni Novgorod, Russia, in 1986 into a family of musicians, Denis Kozhukhin began his piano studies at the age of five with his mother. As a boy, he attended the Balakirev School of Music where he studied under Natalia Fish. From 2000 to 2007, Kozhukhin studied at the Reina Sofía School of Music in Madrid with Dimitri Bashkirov and Claudio Martinez-Mehner. Kozhukhin completed his studies at the Piano Academy at Lake Como where he received advice from Fou Ts’ong, Stanislav Yudenitch, Peter Frankl, Boris Berman, Charles Rosen and Andreas Staier, and with Kirill Gerstein in Stuttgart. In recent years he has been mentored by maestro Daniel Barenboim.