Valery Afanassiev

Valery Afanassiev (Russian: Валерий Павлович Афанасьев, Valerij Pavlovič Afanasiev; born 8 September 1947) is a Russian pianist.

Life

Valery Afanassiev was born in Moscow. He studied piano at the Moscow Conservatory with Emil Gilels and Yakov Zak. In 1969 he was the winner of the Bach Competition in Leipzig, and three years later at the Concours Reine Elisabeth in Brussels. After a tour in Belgium, he decided to seek political asylum in the West and became a citizen of Belgium.

Along with his musical activities Afanassiev is also author of novels. He lives in Versailles.

Repertoire

In Germany Afanassiev was first known as a duet partner of Gidon Kremer in chamber music performances. His interpretations of works of Franz Schubert, Ludwig van Beethoven and others are regarded as unusual and unconventional due to his striving for utmost expressiveness. He has recorded for the Denon and Deutsche Grammophone labels, among others.

References

• Alain Pâris: Dictionnaire des interpretes et de l'interpretation musicale au XX siecle. Robert Laffont, Paris 1989.
• Alan Rich: Masters of music. Great artists of work. Capra Press, Santa Barbara, California 1990.