Hailing from Siberia, the pianist Konstantin Scherbakov had his debut already at the age of 11, when he performed Beethoven’s First Piano Concerto with the Philharmonic Orchestra of his home town of Barnaul. He took lessons from the legendary professor, Lev Naumov at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory. The sensational triumph in the first Rachmaninoff Competition in Moscow (1983) was followed by other successful competition participations, including those in Zurich (Géza Anda), Bozen (Busoni), Rome, and Montréal. His recognition in Western Europe began after the highly successful performance at the Chamber Music Festival of Asolo in 1990, where he played complete piano works of Sergei Rachmaninoff in the presence of maestro Sviatoslav Richter.

Konstantin Scherbakov has recently recorded 30 CDs with 19th- and 20th-century music for Marco Polo, Naxos, and EMI Classics. Marco Polo has released the first five (of the 15 planned) discs with complete piano music of Leopold Godowsky. The fifth of them was awarded the German Critics’ Prize in 2001. His recording of 24 Preludes and Fugues of Shostakovich received the Classical Award in Cannes (2001), and his performance of Liszt’s transcriptions of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony won the German Critics’ Prize in (2005).

In 2003, EMI Classics released the complete concert works of Rachmaninoff and Tchaikovsky with Moscow Philharmonics, Russian State Academic Symphony Orchestra, and Konstantin Scherbakov – one of the first artists the label engaged for a debut recording. In the same year, he performed all over the world with his Rachmaninoff programmes.

Scherbakov’s repertoire verges on 50 piano concertos and a comparable number of solo programmes composed of works from various periods. He was heard at major international music festivals, including Salzburger Festspiele, Schubertiade Schwarzenberg, Klavierfestival Ruhr, Kissinger Sommer, Klavierfest “Raritäten der Klaviermusik“ Husum, and has regularly performed at Luzern Festival and principal musical centres of Europe (including Kölner Philharmonie, Herkulessaal München, Tonhalle Zürich, Konzerthaus Berlin, Bonn Beethovenhalle, Wigmore Hall London, and Gewandhaus Leipzig) and Asia. His concert performances are complemented by radio and TV recordings for ARD, SF, Radio France Musique, Radio DRS 2, and BBC.

Since 1992, the pianist and his family live in Switzerland.