Alexander Toradze

Alexander (Lexo) Toradze (Georgian: ალექსანდრე თორაძე; born May 30, 1952) is a classical concert pianist, best known for his classical Russian repertoire, with a career spanning over three decades. He is a professor of piano at Indiana University South Bend.

Born in Tbilisi, Georgian SSR, to parents David, a famous Georgian composer, and Liana, a movie actress and ophthalmologist, Alexander Toradze entered Tbilisi’s central music school at six and first played with orchestra at nine. He continued his studies at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow at nineteen under Yakov Zak, Boris Zemliansky, and Lev Naumov. In 1977, he finished second in the Fifth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in Fort Worth, Texas. Toradze graduated from the Moscow conservatory in 1978. In 1983, while on tour with the Bolshoi Symphony Orchestra of Moscow, he requested asylum at the American Embassy in Madrid and has since made his home in the United States.

In 1991, Toradze became the Martin endowed professor of piano at Indiana University South Bend. The members of the multi-national Toradze Piano Studio at IUSB have been active participants in summer festivals including Salzburg, White Nights Festival, London Proms, Edinburgh, Ravinia, Ruhr, Rotterdam, Mikkeli, Finland, Hollywood Bowl, Saratoga among others. In the recent season the Studio appeared in Salzburg, New York, Rome, Florence, Venice, Ravenna, Lisbon, Ruhr Festival, among others.

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