World renowned pianist and winner of the Cleveland, Hamamatsu, and Scottish international competitions, Armenian-American pianist Sergei Babayan will perform the final concert in the 2016-2017 season of the International Piano Series at the College of Charleston School of the Arts. Hailed for his emotional intensity, bold energy and remarkable levels of color, Babayan brings a deep understanding and insight to a stylistically diverse repertoire, which includes a performance history of 54 concertos. Le Figaro has praised his “unequaled touch, perfectly harmonious phrasing and breathtaking virtuosity.” Babayan’s program will include an impressive body of repertoire featuring works by J.S. Bach, Franz Liszt, Claude Debussy, Frederic Chopin, Sergei Rachmaninov, Vladimir Ryabov, and Arvo Pärt.

Babayan has collaborated with such conductors as Yuri Temirkanov, Neeme Järvi, Hans Graf, David Robertson, Tugan Sokhiev and Kazimierz Kord among others. Over the years he has performed with Valery Gergiev numerous times to great critical acclaim, including appearances at the international festival “Stars of the White Nights,” the Moscow Easter Festival, the Barbican with Gergiev conducting the London Symphony Orchestra, St Petersburg’s Mariinsky Theatre, the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatoire, the Théâtre des Champs Élysées in Paris, the Salzburg Festival and the Rotterdam Philharmonic-Gergiev Festival where Babayan was Artist-in-Residence.

Babayan performs with the world’s most prominent orchestras, including the London Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Mariinsky Orchestra, the Warsaw Philharmonic, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre National de Lille, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and the New World Symphony.

His engagements and tours have brought him to preeminent international concert venues including the Salle Gaveau in Paris, Wigmore Hall in London, Carnegie Hall in New York, the Warsaw Philharmonic, Severance Hall in Cleveland, the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg, the Herkulessaal in Munich, the Liederhalle in Stuttgart, the Meistersingerhalle in Nuremberg, the Konzerthaus in Berlin, the Brahms-Saal in Karlsruhe, the Beethovenhalle in Bonn, the Philharmonie in Essen, the Rudolfinum-Dvořák Hall in Prague and Victoria Hall in Geneva. Babayan’s performances have been broadcast by WQXR, WCLV, Radio France, Polish Radio and Television, BBC TV, NHK Satellite Television and Medici TV.

Born in Armenia into a musical family, Babayan began his studies there with Georgy Saradjev and continued at the Moscow Conservatoire with Mikhail Pletnev, Vera Gornostayeva and Lev Naumov. Following his first trip outside the USSR in 1989 he won consecutive first prizes at several major international competitions including the Robert Casadesus International Piano Competition (renamed the Cleveland International Piano Competition), the Hamamatsu Piano Competition and the Scottish International Piano Competition.

The concert will take place on Tuesday, March 21, 2017 at 7:30 p.m., in the Sottile Theatre, 44 George St. General admission is $20 and free for students and faculty/staff. Tickets may be purchased online at go.cofc.edu/ips, at the door, by emailing concerts@cofc.edu, or by calling (843) 953-6315.