Alexey Botvinov is an exceptional pianist, musical innovator and producer. One of the most acclaimed Ukrainian pianists, Botvinov specialises in Rachmaninov’s music. He performs worldwide. Botvinov may be the only pianist in the world who performed Bach’s masterpiece »Goldberg Variations« more than 300 times on stage.

In 2015, Botvinov together with his wife Elena founded the International Music Festival Odessa Classics. The annual festival became the most important classical music festival in the Ukraine and one of the leading music festivals in Europe. Since 2022, Odessa Classics continues its history as a festival in exile, with editions in Zurich, Tallinn, Thessaloniki, Beethoven-Haus Bonn, Vilnius, Warsaw, Luzern, Bremen, and Ghent.

The pianist performed with the San Francisco New Century Chamber Orchestra, the Radio Symphony Orchestra Moscow, the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestra Svizzera Italiana, the Lithuanian as well as Estonian National Symphony Orchestra and the Warsaw Radio Symphony Orchestra. As a passionate chamber musician, her collavorates with such musicians as Mischa Maisky, Pinchas Zukerman, Mathias Goerne, and Vadim Repin.

His joint recording with star violinist Daniel Hope of works by Alfred Schnittke (2021) garnered international recognition. They collaborated on another recording right after the start of the war in Ukraine, the charity project »Music for Ukraine«. The album catapulted Ukrainian classical music into international consciousness.

Alexey Botvinov was born in an all-musicians family in Odessa, where he studied with Prof. Mogilewskaja and later at the Conservatory of Odessa with Prof. Kardaschew. His last mentor was the legendary pianist Alexis Weissenberg. Botvinov is a prize-winner of such important piano competitions as the 1st Rachmaninow-Competition in Moscow (1983), the 8th International Bach-Competition in Leipzig (1988) and the 1st Clara-Schumann-Competition in Düsseldorf (1994).

2009/2010 Botvinov was Artistic Director of the Odessa National Opera Theater. During that time he initiated modern-concept productions. Recently, Botvinov explores new ways of presenting classical music. In his new innovative projects he works with visual effects, light shows and also delves into theatre directing. 2010 Botvinov started the unique »Piano and Drums«–project, which combines piano masterpieces with oriental rhythms by the world star percussionist Burhan Öcal.

Alexey Botvinov was awarded the title »People’s Artist of Ukraine«, the highest artistic achievement in the Ukraine. He also received the honours as Knight of the Order of the Star of Italy, the Swiss Wilhelm Tell Award and the Platinum Medal from the French Arts-Science-Lettres Academy in Paris.