Igor Lazko

Igor Lazko (Russian: Игорь Лазько, Russian pronunciation: [ˈiɡər ˈlasʲkə]), (b. St Petersburg, 1949), is a Russian classical pianist who has made a distinguished international career as performer, recording artist and teacher of other pianists.

Igor Lazko is descended from a family renowned for its musicians through several generations. When he was six years old he was admitted to the special school for young musicians in the Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory, where his professors were Pavel Serebryakov and Lekhovitskaya. He was profoundly affected by the example of Glenn Gould's playing during his tour in the Soviet Union in 1957, and from this and from Gould's recordings he drew a wealth of inspiration: the pianist describes this in a published article.

At a very young age he displayed exceptional gifts and when only 14 he became the youngest laureate in the history of the Johann Sebastian Bach International Music Competition at Leipzig, receiving from them the Bronze Medal. Soon afterwards (in 1965) he recorded the Two- and Three-Part Inventions for the Russian Melodiya record label, the disc which launched his recording career.

His hard work and his exceptional talent opened for him the very finest teaching that Russia had to offer. He perfected himself at the higher Tchaikowsky Conservatory in Moscow in the class of Jakov Zak, successor of the master Heinrich Neuhaus, and took the First Prize in all his paths of study. From 1974 to 1977 he pursued a career as soloist and chamber musician in the Soviet Union, and was soloist with the Leningrad Philharmonic. In the USSR he performed in duo with the cellist Alexey Lazko (appearing before the Leningrad Philharmonic Society in 1965), and in trio with Mirra Lvovna Furer-Lazko.

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