Yevgeny Sudbin is part of the latest generation of Russian artists who are keeping that country’s celebrated piano tradition alive.
And it was in following in the footsteps of some of his famed forebears and undertaking a recording of sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti that he vaulted to international attention in 2005.
“Once in a blue moon a record appears by a hitherto unknown artist who seems destined to take his place among the elect,” wrote Daniel Patrick Stearns in Piano magazine. “Both musically and technically, this debut is on a par with those two greatest of Scarlatti pianists — Horowitz and Pletnev.”
As part of recital tour that includes a concert at the prestigious Gilmore International Piano Festival in Michigan, the 30-year-old soloist will make a stop in Denver at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in the Newman Center for the Performing Arts.
In the five years since Sudbin’s Scarlatti release, success has come quickly for the previously unknown performer. This season alone, he has recitals scheduled at such prestigious venues as Wigmore Hall in London and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.
But it is his recordings for the respected Swedish label, BIS, where he seems to be making his biggest mark, gaining almost unanimously glowing international reviews.
His original two-album contract quickly turned into five, and after his debut last summer at the London Proms, he signed another deal for 14 additional releases over seven years.
He is in the midst of recording all the Beethoven piano concertos with conductor Osmo Vänskä and the Minnesota Orchestra, whose recent set of Beethoven symphonies was a considerable hit in the classical field.
Sudbin might not be a big name yet, but he is featured on the cover of International Piano magazine this month, and more such publicity is sure to come. Kyle MacMillan
