A graduate of the
Moscow Conservatory where he studied with
Aleksey Nasedkin, Vladimir Ovchinnikov is resident professor of piano at the Moscow Conservatory and guest professor of piano at Sakuyo University in Japan. He was awarded second place in the Montreal International Music Competition in 1980. In 1982, he was awarded joint second prize with
Peter Donohoe in the
International Tchaikovsky Competition (no first prize was awarded that year). In 1987, he was awarded first prize at the
Leeds International Pianoforte Competition. In 2005, he received Russia's highest award and honor for musicians - the title "
People's Artist of Russia", awarded by the Russian president. He served as a chairman and a member of the jury at the
International Tchaikovsky Competition, the
International Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians, the
International Russian Rotary Children Music Competition and many others. Was appointed as a headmaster of the Central Music School of the Moscow Conservatory in 2011. He appears regularly with such leading Russian orchestras as the Moscow Philharmonic; Moscow Radio Symphony and the St Petersburg Philharmonic; he also has a long-standing relationship with the Russian State Symphony Orchestra, and was a special favorite of
Yevgeny Svetlanov, with whom he toured France, the Netherlands, North and South America. Concerto appearances in Europe and North America have included the following: He has played under various conductors including: Among his recordings are
Shostakovich's Piano Concerto No. 1 coupled with
Mussorgsky's
Pictures at an Exhibition (Collins Classics),
Rachmaninoff's
Études-Tableaux, and
Liszt's
Transcendental Études, and
Prokofiev's Piano Sonatas (EMI). Other recordings include sonatas for violin and piano by Grieg (together with the violinist Vinnitsky) - for the Russian Seasons label, also - Liszt, Tchaikovsky, Taneyev, Rubinstein for Gold Club == External links ==