Vassily Primakov

Vassily Primakov has been hailed as a pianist of world class importance.

Considered as one of the greatest interpreters of F. Chopin - Gramophone wrote that "Primakov's empathy with Chopin's spirit could hardly be more complete," and the American Record Guide stated: "Since Gilels, how many pianists have the right touch? In Chopin, no one currently playing sounds as good as this! This is a great Chopin pianist." Music Web-International called Primakov's Chopin concertos CD "one of the great Chopin recordings of recent times. These are performances of extraordinary power and beauty."

Vassily's first piano studies were with his mother, Marina Primakova. He entered Moscow's Central Special Music School at the age of ten as a pupil of a renowned professor at the Moscow Conservatory, Vera Gornostaeva. After graduating, at the age of 17, Primakov moved to New York to pursue his studies at the Juilliard School with the legendary pianist, Professor Jerome Lowenthal. At Juilliard, Mr. Primakov won the William Petschek Piano Recital Award, which presented his New York debut recital at Alice Tully Hall. While at Juilliard, aided by a Susan W. Rose Career Grant, he won Silver at the Cleveland International Piano Competition in 1999, and both the Silver Medal and the Audience Prize in the 2002 Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition. Later that year Primakov won First Prize in the 2002 Young Concert Artists (YCA) International Auditions. In 2007 he was named the Classical Recording Foundation's "Young Artist of the Year." In 2009, Primakov's Chopin Mazurkas recording was named "Best of the Year" by National Public Radio.

Since 2002, Vassily Primakov has continued to actively concertize and perform extensively throughout the USA and abroad. Touring in Europe, Asia, and South Africa, Primakov has performed in some of the finest venues—both solo and with orchestra.

Vassily has also been very active as a recording artist and a producer, putting out albums for various record labels (Naxos, Bridge Records, LP Classics). So far, he has released over 30 albums that include works by Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Mendelssohn, Brahms, Chopin, Dvorak, Debussy, Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky, Scriabin, Rachmaninoff, Philip Glass, Arlene Sierra, and Poul Ruders Piano Concerto No. 2 (which was written for Mr. Primakov and nominated for a Grammy for Best Contemporary Classical Composition in 2012).

Starting in 2011, Primakov has been in close collaboration with a fiery pianist Natalia Lavrova, with whom he performs frequently as a duo (one piano, four hands and two pianos) and has recorded repertoire such as the Two Piano Suites of Arensky and Rachmaninoff, as well as four-hand repertoire of Schubert, Corigliano, Czerny, and Tchaikovsky.

Since 2012, Vassily Primakov is proud to be a Yamaha Artist. 

Since 2017, Vassily has been running an intimate concert series,"Sparkill Classical Series" in Sparkill, NY, with long-time friend and accomplished pianist, Oxana Mikhailoff  where they feature high-caliber musicians and collaborators, inviting their legendary friends like Jerome Lowenthal, Mikhail Voskresensky and Pavel Nersessian, as well as new and up-and-coming artists.