Sigalevitch was born in
Simferopol,
Crimea. His father
Lev Sigalevitch was a painter and his mother a concert pianist and professor. He began playing the piano at the age of six and, showing prodigious talent, was accepted at the special music class of the
Leningrad Conservatory at age seven to study with
Leah Zelikhman. He continued his studies at the
Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory in the class of
Vera Gornostayeva. He finished his studies winning the first prize. In 1977 he left the
Soviet Union and emigrated to
Israel. For the next two years he studied with
Nikita Magaloff in
Geneva and with
Arie Vardi in
Tel Aviv. His repertoire includes works by
J.S. Bach,
Haydn,
Mozart,
Beethoven,
Schubert,
Liszt,
Brahms,
Mussorgsky,
Debussy,
Ravel,
Scriabin,
Rachmaninoff,
Prokofiev and other composers. It is, however,
Chopin's and
Schumann's works which occupy a central position in his repertoire. Since commencing his concert career, he has received numerous enthusiastic reviews from critics in Europe and Israel. He has often played under the baton of
Valery Gergiev. He is also a dedicated connoisseur of paintings, literature, and philosophy. He currently resides in
La Rochelle. Sigalevitch's discography includes the complete works for solo piano by
Robert Schumann (14 CDs) released in 2016 for
Polyphonia Records. A sought-after pedagogue, many of his students are prizewinners of important competitions. Among them were
Ingmar Lazar and Jules Matton. ==Sources==