Alexander Buzlov (✝)

Alexander Buzlov was one of the most vivid and talented cellists of the next generation, one who represented the Russian performing school with honour at the world’s leading music venues. One of Bouzlov’s most recent achievements came with his participation at the Grand Prix Emanuel Feuermann in Berlin in November 2010, at which he was awarded the Grand Prix and the Audience Award.

Alexander Buzlov was born in Moscow in 1983. He graduated from the music school and college of the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatoire; in 2006 he graduated from the Moscow Conservatoire itself. At master classes, he has received instruction from such renowned cellists as Mstislav Rostropovich, Daniil Shafran, Natalia Shakhovskaya, Boris Talalay, Eberhard Finke (Switzerland) and Bernard Greenhouse (USA). As a student, Alexander Buzlov received grants from numerous international organisations, among them the Russian Performing Arts foundation, the Mstislav Rostropovich Foundation, the Vladimir Spivakov Foundation and the Nahum Guzik Foundation (USA). He teached at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatoire where he was an assistant to Professor Natalia Gutman; he ran master-classes in Russia, Europe and the USA.

Alexander Buzlov won his first Grand Prix at the Mozart-96competition in Monte Carlo at the age of thirteen. One year later the musician was awarded the Grand Prix at the Virtuosi of the 21^st Century competition in Moscow. The same year, he performed at an anniversary concert marking seventy years since the birth of Mstislav Rostropovich. Alexander Buzlov has won 1^st prizes at Young Concert Artist competitions in Leipzig (2000) and New York (2001) and the Grand Prix in the categories “Cello” and “Chamber Ensemble” at the “New Names” All-Russian Open Competition (Moscow, 2000); recipient of the Triumphyouth prize (2003) and prize-winner at the XXXV International Competition Jeunesses Musicales in Belgrade (1st prize and Audience Award, 2005). The musician has also received special prizes for the best performance of Pezzo capriccioso at the XII International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow (2002) and the Leyda Ungerer Prize at the Pablo Casals Competition in Kronberg (Germany, 2004). In 2005 he took second prize at one of the most prestigious music compositions in Europe – the ARD International Cello Competition in Munich (Germany), while in 2007 he was the undoubted favourite at the XIII International Tchaikovsky Competition at which he took the Silver Medal, the prize for the best performance of a work by Tchaikovsky and the special prize of the Mstislav Rostropovich and Galina Vishnevskaya Foundation. One year later the cellist took second prize at the LXIII International Cello Competition in Geneva, the oldest cello competition in Europe. Alexander Buzlov has won III^rd prize at the XV International Tchaikovsky Competition (2015).

His tours have taken him to the USA, Great Britain, Germany, France, Israel, Switzerland, Austria, Norway, Malaysia, South Korea, Japan, Belgium and the Czech Republic. Alexander Buzlov has appeared with many renowned Russian ensembles, among them the New Russia Symphony Orchestra, the Svetlanov State Academic Symphony Orchestra, the Mariinsky Theatre Symphony Orchestra, the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia, the Grand Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra, the Moscow Soloists chamber ensemble, the Munich Chamber Ensemble, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the St Petersburg Academic Philharmonic and the symphony orchestras of Nizhny Novgorod, Yaroslavl, Saratov and Ulyanovsk. He has worked with conductors including Mark Gorenstein, Yuri Bashmet, Valery Gergiev, Vladimir Spivakov, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Yuri Temirkanov, Konstantin Orbelian, Leonard Slatkin, Thomas Sanderling, Maria Eklund, Claudio Vandelli (Italy), Yakov Kreizberg (USA), E. Tobacco (Bulgaria) and Mitiyoshi Inoue (Japan).

As a soloist he has performed with numerous American symphony orchestras, travelling to almost each and every American state while on tour. Alexander Buzlov’s debut at the renowned Carnegie Hall took place in 2005, while May the same year saw a gala at the Lincoln Center in New York with the Orchestra of St Luke’s under the baton of Leonard Slatkin. “Of the numerous young performers who have appeared onstage in recent years with the Utah Chamber Orchestra, Alexandre Buzlov is the most vivid and talented,” wrote one American newspaper in 2007. Alexander Buzlov performed with such acclaimed musicians as Natalia Gutman, Yuri Bashmet, Alexei Lyubimov, Vasily Lobanov and Tatiana Grindenko.

The cellist took part in international festivals including Musical Kremlin, Moscow Autumn, December Evenings of Svyatoslav Richter and Ars Longa (Moscow), the White Nights, Arts Square and Musical Olympus (St Petersburg), festivals in Ludwigsburg and Usedom (Germany), Colmar (France), the Oleg Kagan Memorial Festivals in Moscow and Kreuth (Germany), international chamber music festivals in Giverny and Montpellier (France), Crescendo (Israel), Chanel, Ginza (Japan) and the Seiji Ozawa Academy (Switzerland).

Alexander Buzlov frequently performed in chamber ensembles with Russian, American, French and Japanese musicians and regularly gave master-classes in Russia, the USA and Slovenia. He has recorded for Russian TV and radio as well as radio stations in Germany, Switzerland, France, the USA and Austria.