Dimitri Bashkirov has been known to the public since 1955, when he won the Grand Prix at the Marguerite Long Competition in Paris. Born in 1931 in Tbilisi, Georgia, he studied there with Anastasia Virsaladze and in Moscow with Alexander Goldenweiser (a contemporary of Rachmaninov and Scriabin and friend of Tolstoy's). He has appeared with major orchestras throughout the world, including the Chicago Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, Gewandhaus Orchestra, St. Petersburg Philharmonic and the
Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, under such conductors as Sir John Barbirolli, Kurt Masur, Wolfgang Sawallisch, George Szell, Igor Markevitch, Evgeny Svetlanov, Kurt Sanderling, Yuri Temirkanov, Vladimir Ashkenazy and Daniel Barenboim. His festival appearances include Vienna, La Roque D'Anteron, Verbier, Toulouse, Bologna, Santander, Berlin and the Ruhr Piano Festival. In 1957-1991 he taught at the Moscow Conservatory and since then has held teaching positions in Italy, China, Belgium and Spain, as well as regular master classes in Europe, China and Israel. Mr. Bashkirov has been awarded the People's Artist of Russia, the Civil Order of Spain, the Medal of Honor of the University of Madrid, the Robert Schumann Medal (Germany) and an honorary diploma at the Ruhr Piano Festival. He has been a jury member at leading international competitions, among them the Leeds, Tchaikovsky, Marguerite Long and Arthur Rubinstein competitions and has recorded for major labels.