Nikolai Lugansky, piano

The pianist Nikolai Lugansky is renowned for his interpretations of Rachmaninov, Prokofiev, Chopin and Debussy. Described by Gramophone as “the most trailblazing and meteoric performer of all,” Nikolai Lugansky is a pianist of extraordinary depth and versatility. He has received numerous awards for recordings and artistic merit.

He collaborates regularly with conductors of the calibre of Kent Nagano, Yuri Temirkanov, Manfred Honeck, Gianandrea Noseda, Stanislav Kochanovsky, Vasily Petrenko, Lahav Shani. He is invited by leading international orchestras, including the Berliner Philharmoniker, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Orquestra Nacional de España.

Nikolai Lugansky appears at some of the world’s most distinguished festivals, including the Aspen, Tanglewood, Ravinia and Verbier festivals. Chamber music collaborators include Vadim Repin, Alexander Kniazev, Mischa Maisky and Leonidas Kavakos.

In the 2024/25 season, he has been invited by the NHK Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo (Dutoit), the NDR Radiophilharmonie Hannover (Kochanovsky), the Brussels Philharmonic (Ono), the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France (Peltokovsky), the Berlin Konzerthaus Orchester (Valčuha), the Philharmonia London (Rouvali), at St. Louis Symphony Orchestra (Deneve). He will continue touring his Wagner’s transcriptions in recitals at the Teatro alla Scala, the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, the Wiener Konzerthaus, the Wigmore Hall, the Zurich Tonhalle, the Piano à Lyon, the Gulbenkian, among many others. He will also return to Korea with a recital tour in Ulsan, Daegu and Seoul, as well South America in Bogotà and with the Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo, and to the US with a recital tour in various cities, including Aspen, Washington and Kansas City.

In 2023, he celebrated the 150th anniversary of Rachmaninov’s birth by performing all of the Russian composer’s major solo works in a three-concert cycle at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris and the Wigmore Hall in London, along with other individual performances throughout Europe, including at the Konzerthaus in Vienna and Berlin, the Bozar in Brussels, the Rudolfinum in Prague and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. The performances have been a great success with audiences and critics alike, where “Lugansky’s command of the piano is exceptional…. He is masterful in his knowledge of tempo, structure and expression” (Bachtrack).

In the summer he returned to the US to perform Rachmaninov concertos with the Cleveland Orchestra with Stanislav Kochanovsky and at the Colorado Music Festival with Peter Oundjian.

Nikolai Lugansky has won several awards for his many recordings. His recital recording featuring Rachmaninov’s Piano Sonatas won the Diapason d’Or, and his recording of concertos by Grieg and Prokofiev with Kent Nagano and the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin was a Gramophone Editor’s Choice.

Lugansky has an exclusive contract with Harmonia Mundi and his Rachmaninov: 24 Preludes (2018) received rave reviews while César Franck, Préludes, Fugues & Chorals (2020) won the Diapason d’Or. His latest recording Richard Wagner was released in March 2024 and was an Editor’s Choice and included in The Best Classical Albums of the Year by Gramophone and also won the Premio Abbiati del Disco 2024 for solo repertoire. Lugansky’s album Rachmaninov: Études-Tableaux; 3 Pièces was awarded Radio France’s Classica Choc de l’Année 2023 and Gramophone Editor’s Choice in March 2023.