Elene Gvritishvili & Alexey Pudinov
Biography Elene Gvritishvili & Alexey Pudinov
Elene Gvritishvili
is a graduate of the Rimsky-Korsakov State Conservatory in St. Petersburg and currently a member of the renowned "Bolshoi Young Artist Programme". The young soprano has already successfully performed at the most important Russian stages, including the Bolshoi Theatre, the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall and the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow, the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, the Cathedral Radio and the State Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory in St. Petersburg as well as the Winter Theatre in Sochi. On European stages she has performed at the Salzburg Festspielhaus, the Mozarteum, the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden and the Paris Philharmonie.
Elene has a fruitful collaboration with conductor Teodor Currentzis: from 2020 to 2022 she worked as soloist of the musicAeterna choir under his direction and participated in performances of Requiem (Fauré), De temporum fine comoedia (Orff) and Dido and Aeneas (Purcell), among others.
With her love of modern music, Elene has participated in the world premieres of works by esteemed contemporary composers such as Philip Grange, Alexey Retinsky, Paul Archbold, Andreas Moustoukis and Alexander Manotskov. She also enjoys performing Renaissance and Baroque music and collaborating with ensembles dedicated to historical performance practice in St. Petersburg and Moscow.
Alexey Pudinov
is a musical multi-talent. An irrepressible energy determines his music-making as well as his projects. For example, he founded "AD Festival Days", a chamber music festival in Manchester. He is also a co-founder of several chamber music ensembles, including the piano duo TWO4PIANO and the Frankfurt Piano Trio.
"I can't live without chamber music," he says. Nor without other forms of artistic expression. That's why the young pianist is also enthusiastic about photography in addition to music.
Alexey's versatility is also reflected in his education: with a total of six music degrees, the musician has combined the piano schools of three countries: Germany (HfMDK Frankfurt), England (RCM London and RNCM Manchester), and of course the legendary Russian piano school.
He has received important artistic impulses from Norma Fisher, Elisabeth Leonskaja, Herbert Seidel, Bernhard Wetz, Angelika Merkle, Leon Fleisher, Paul Schenly, Kelly-Marie Murphy and Jörg Widmann, among others, as well as in his role as soloist with orchestras such as the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Simfonični Orkester RTV Slovenija and the Gießen Symphony Orchestra. Alexey's chamber music partners include renowned musicians such as Lara Boschkor, Jonathan Crow, Benedict Klöckner, Johannes Moser, Konstantin Soukhovetski and the Eliot Quartet.
Alexey is a cosmopolitan who appreciates travelling and performs all over the world. He has performed at many prestigious festivals including Rheingau Music Festival, Pianofest in the Hamptons, Toronto Summer Music Festival and Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival. Awards won at competitions have taken him to Canada, North America, Finland, Germany, Austria, Italy and the Czech Republic. Alexey Pudinov won the Gershwin Best Performance Prize in New York in 2015, the Steinway Prize in 2014, the First LMN Menuhin Prize in Frankfurt in 2016 and the First Prize at the North West International Ensemble Competition in Vancouver in 2018.
