Piano

Boris Slutsky stormed onto the international music scene when he swept every major prize at the 1981 William Kapell (University of Maryland) International Piano Competition, capturing not only the First Prize, but also the Audience Prize and the Wihelm Backhaus Award. His long list of awards includes First Prizes at Kosciuszko Chopin Competition and San Antonio International Keyboard Competition as well as major prizes at The International Bach Competition in Memory of Glenn Gould, Busoni, Rina Sala Gallo, and Ettore Pozzoli International Piano Competitions.

Born in Moscow into a family of musicians, Boris Slutsky immigrated to the United States in 1977 and gave his orchestral debut at Carnegie Hall with the New York Youth Symphony in 1980. Since then Slutsky has appeared on nearly every continent as soloist and recitalist, collaborating with such eminent conductors as Dimitri Kitaenko, Andrew Davis and Valery Gergiev. He has performed with the London Philharmonic, Stuttgart State Orchestra and Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Neuss am Rhein in Germany, Bern Symphony Orchestra in Switzerland, Bergen Philharmonic in Norway, the RAI Orchestra in Milan, KBS Symphony Orchestra in Korea, and with orchestras in Spain, Russia, Colombia, and Brazil. In South Africa he has been a soloist with the orchestras of Capetown, Durban, and Johannesburg. North American engagements have included concerts with the Baltimore, Florida, Utah, and Toronto Symphonies. Slutsky has given solo recitals throughout the United States, in France, Germany, Spain, Belgium, Italy, Russia, Canada, Latin America, and the Far East. He has been heard at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Kaufmann Concert Hall, Tokyo’s Bunka Kaikan, Taipei’s National Concert Hall, Seoul’s Performing Arts Center, and the Teatro Colon in Bogota. He has been a guest artist at the Millennium Piano festival in Spain, the Stars of White Nights Festival in St. Petersburg, Russia, Oldenburger Promenade Festival in Germany, Taiwan Music Festival, International Mikkeli Music Festival in Finland, and at the Rotterdam Philharmonic Philips Gergiev Festival among many others.

Slutsky presented master classes throughout the United States, Korea, China, Taiwan, and Singapore. As an adjudicator he served on the juries of “Premio Jaen” International Piano Competition in Spain, Hilton Head International Piano Competition, International Young Artist Competition “Oldenburger Promenade” in Germany, California International Young Artist Competition, and PianoArts Competition in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to name a few.

Slutsky’s more than two decades of chamber music collaborations have included performances with many renowned artists as well as a critically acclaimed recording with violinist Ilya Kaler of Schumann’s Sonatas for Violin and Piano on the Naxos label.

Slutsky received his early training at Moscow’s Gnessin School for Gifted Children as a student of Anna Kantor. He completed his formal studies at the Juilliard School and the Manhattan School of Music, and has had a long association with his mentor Alexander Eydelman.

Slutsky joined the faculty of Peabody Conservatory of Music in 1993 where he served as the Piano Department Chair from 2000 until 2003.