Pianist and composer Alexey Chernov was born in Russia in 1982 into a family of musicians. He showed his musical ability from an early age and began to study music in his early childhood. At the age of six he entered the School of the Moscow Academic College of Music. After four years there, he continued his studies at the Central Music School of the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatoire. In 2000 he graduated from the Central School of Music, having specialized in piano (class of Natalia Troull) and composition (class of Leonid Bobylyov). In 2005 he graduated with distinction from the faculty of piano at the Moscow Conservatory, also completing his postgraduate studies in 2008 under Professor Natalia Troull. From 2008–2010 he undertook a further postgraduate course at the Royal College of Music in London under Professor Vanessa Latarche, while in 2011 he received his Artist Diploma in Performance from the RCM.
While still a student at the Central School of Music, Alexey Chernov was a prize-winner at several youth competitions in addition to receiving a Scriabin Grant, which presented him with the opportunity to appear at Scriabin festivals in cities throughout the world. He later received the honor of performing, at one concert, Scriabin’s three last sonatas on the antique piano at a museum honoring the composer in Moscow – the same piano on which they had been composed.
In February 1998 (when he was fifteen years of age) he received an invitation from Mikhail Pletnev to perform Prokofiev’s First Piano Concerto with the Russian National Orchestra which he successfully performed in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory.
During his years as a student at the Moscow Conservatoire he won several grants and awards.
Alexey Chernov has been a prize-winner at over twenty international competitions and taken over ten first prizes. In particular he became a prize-winner of such competitions as XIV International Tchaikovsky competition, Cleveland piano competition, Maria Canals piano competition in Barcelona, Pozzoli international piano competition in Seregno (Italy), “Unisa” piano competition in Pretoria, international Piano-e-competition…
Alexey Chernov has a tremendously diverse and varied repertoire. He performs regularly around the world, both solo and with orchestra and appears at numerous festivals. Has taken part in the “Stars of white nights” festival in Saint-Petersburg in “Omaggio ad Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli” festival in Italy, “Piano 24” festival in France and many other prestigious festivals. Has collaborated with the conductors Mikhail Pletnev, Conrad van Alphen, Charles Olivieri-Munroe, Nikolaj Znaider, Valery Raevsky, Alexander Anisimov, Ravil Martynov, Terje Mikkelsen, Gintaras Rinkevičius, Volodimir Sirenko, Dmitry Yablonsky, Enrique Bátiz and Sergei Smbatian among others. Alexey also collaborates closely with many concert organizations around the world.
Alexey Chernov has produced numerous recordings internationally including CDs in Russia and Germany.
Alexey Chernov is one of the main performers of the piano music of the outstanding Ukrainian composer Valentin Silvestrov. At the beginning of 2022, Valentin Silvestrov dedicated to Alexey Chernov the piano cycle op. 306, consisting of 5 pieces.
In 2022, the year of Alexander Scriabin’s 150th birthday, Alexey Chernov performed all of his piano opuses at concerts. It has happened in Moscow Conservatory and in the Scriabin Memorial Museum where he performed a Serie of 7 concerts with complete Scriabin. For the first time in the musical history, Alexey Chernov performed all Scriabin’s compositions in a row in one day. This happened twice, once in Moscow and in Le-Mans in France.
Currently, Alexey Chernov has moved to Germany. He is now engaged in intensive concert activity, combining in his programs works of European classics, contemporary music, Russian and Ukrainian composers. He also performs his own compositions. He has a number of concerts in Germany, Italy, France, Sweden, USA and other countries. In 2022 and 2023, Alexey is trying to promote Ukrainian music, mostly the music of Valentin Silvestrov. One of his last programs was called “Germany, Russia and Ukraine. Bagatelles and Dialogues”
At the end of 2022, Alexey Chernov received the status of a resident-artist at the Beethoven House in Bonn and the opportunity to use special apartments as part of the program “Hope for Peace”.
As a composer Alexey Chernov has composed numerous pieces in diverse forms and genres, among them music for piano as well as for chamber ensembles and orchestra. He frequently includes his own piano music in his chamber concerts and recitals. He collaborates with various composers’ organizations and his works have been performed to great acclaim at festivals of contemporary music. His music is felt deeply reverent attitude to the classical heritage of Russian music. At the same time, his music has been the avant-garde techniques contains. Alexey Chernov characterizes his musical style as “metaromanticism”.