Alexander Paley is widely recognized for his exceptionally broad and extensive repertoire of concerti and solo piano works, his dazzling technical prowess, and his convincing, personal interpretations.
Since September 2021, Mr. Paley holds a position as professor at Vytautas Magnus University Music Academy in Lithuania. During this time he established the group Paleasis, whose ten musicians play a wide repertoire in many cities in Lithuania. In Vilnius, with his wife Peiwen Chen, he performed the complete chamber music of Brahms for piano, with six concerts in the 2021 season and another four in 2022. Performances with Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra include concerts of Beethoven, Haydn, and Grieg.
On February 7, 2024, Moldova President Maia Sandu presented the title of “People’s Artist” to Alexander Paley. Said President Sandu, “I am glad that, having made a very successful international career, the artist remains tied to Moldova, the place where he was born and where he was formed from a musical point of view, and [that he has] for many years promoted the music of composers of Moldova.”
A favorite of audiences in Washington DC, Mr. Paley gives a recital annually, including the complete Mozart Solo Sonatas in 2004 and an all-Liszt concert broadcast on WETA’s “Front Row Washington” in 2011.
Mr. Paley performs extensively throughout Europe and Asia. Since 1991 the Moulin d’Andé in Normandy has hosted Alexander Paley et ses amis, a weeklong series of recitals, lieder and chamber music concerts. 2018 saw the first the Alexander Paley Marathon festival, in Lithuania.The Alexander Paley Music Festival of Richmond began in August 1998, and has consistently drawn popular and critical acclaim for its bold programming and brilliant performances.
Biography
Born in Chișinău (Kishiniev), Moldova, Mr. Paley won the National Music Competition of Moldova at the age of sixteen. Subsequently, he studied at the Moscow Conservatory with Bella Davidovich and Vera Gornostayeva, completing his graduate work in 1981. He won First Prize at the Leipzig International Bach Competition in 1984, the Bösendorfer Prize in 1986, the Grand Prix at the first International Pancho Vladigerov Competition in 1986, the Grand Prix Young Artist Debut in 1988, First Prize at Alex de Vries in 1990 and Les Victoires de la Musique Classique in 2006.
The Washington Post called Mr. Paley’s 1991 debut with the National Symphony a “flawless performance”, and since then he has earned similar accolades for performances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Boston Pops, Aspen Festival Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, and the St. Louis, San Diego, Utah, Colorado, Milwaukee, Seattle, and Syracuse Symphony Orchestras. In the 1996–97 season, he made his Carnegie Hall debut with the American Composers Orchestra in the world premiere of a new concerto by Sheila Silver. The New York Times wrote, “The pianist…played like a man possessed.”
Mr. Paley’s highly unusual discography includes the complete solo piano works of Balakirev; works by Scriabin and Weber; cello and piano sonatas by Chopin, Enesco, and Rachmaninoff with Alexandre Dmitriev; the Liszt transcription of Beethoven’s Septet; the world premier recording of Giovanni Sgambati’s piano concerto with the Orchestre Philharmonique Montpellier; Anton Rubinstein’s Piano Concerti Nos. 2 and 4 with the Russian State Orchestra; the Sheila Silver piano concerto with the Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra; works by Jean-Louis Agobet with the Pro Philharmonique Orchestre of Strasbourg.
On the Blüthner label Mr. Paley has recorded “Ten Pieces from Romeo and Juliet and Two Suites from Cinderella,” by Prokofiev, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms and Bartel, Chopin, Bach: Goldberg Variations, Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier, and also a video recording, “Blüthner Soirée with Alexander Paley featuring Schubert/Liszt Song Transcriptions.” Other releases include the first complete recording on piano of J. P. Rameau’s works for clavecin, complete violin sonatas of Enesco with Amiram Ganz, and Tchaikovsky’s Grand Sonata in G major, and complete Seasons.
FREE pdf book (from AlexanderPaley.net) on the creative activity of Alexander Paley around the world, including his education, recordings, interviews, and photographs of his teachers and friends. The book is mostly in Russian, with a multi-lingual (including English) preface. PDF
Mr. Paley is represented by Danart/Danthois Artists Management. | contact