“without doubt an exceptional artist” Le Figaro

Ukrainian pianist Vadym Kholodenko is fast building a reputation as one of the most musically dynamic and technically gifted young pianists to recently emerge on stage. His accolades include Gold Medal of the 2013 Cliburn Competition, a prestigious Diapason d’Or de l’année for his solo disc of Scriabin for Harmonia Mundi and First Prize at both the Schubert Piano Competition in Dortmund and Sendai Piano Competition in Japan. In 21/22 he is Artist In Residence with the SWR Symphonieorchester.

Kholodenko has caught the imagination of distinguished conductors including Teodor Currentzis, Kirill Karabits, Louis Langrée, Andrey Boreyko, Christian Macelaru, Pinchas Zukerman, Krzysztof Urbanski, Yuri Bashmet, Thomas Søndergård, Ion Marin, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Valery Gergiev and Kazuki Yamada.

In North America Kholodenko has performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, Rochester Philharmonic and San Diego Symphony Orchestras, and toured with the Staatskapelle Weimar under Kirill Karabits. He has given recitals throughout the United States including in New York, Washington and Boston and at the Aspen Music Festival.

His London debut with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra resulted in an immediate re-invitation and he has recently worked with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony, Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine, Orchestre Philharmonique de Luxembourg, Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Copenhagen Philharmonic, Prague Symphony Orchestra, Barcelona Symphony, RTVE Symphony Orchestra in Madrid and Orquesta Nacional de España. He has given solo recitals at the Vienna Konzerthaus, Wigmore Hall and LSO St Luke’s in London, Liszt Academy Budapest, in Paris, Moscow, Bilbao, Brussels, Lucerne and at the SWR Schwetzinger Festspiele, La Roque d’Anthéron and Chopin Festival in Warsaw. A committed chamber musician he enjoys collaborating with artists including Vadim Repin, Alena Baeva, Clara-Jumi Kang and Maxim Rysanov.

Kholodenko is a regular visitor to Japan and has performed with the Japan Philharmonic and Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestras, recently touring the country with the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra. He has performed with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and NCPA Orchestra in Beijing and given recitals throughout Japan as well as in Beijing and Singapore.

His 2022 residency with the SWR Symphonieorchester Stuttgart sees Kholodenko perform Brahms Piano Concerto No 2 with Teodor Currentzis, Beethoven Piano Concerto No 5 with Lionel Bringuier and Rachmaninov with Dmitry Slobodeniuk. Elsewhere he performs Beethoven with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Prokofiev with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and with the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI (Turin), RTE National Orchestra of Ireland, Janacek Philharmonic/Boreyko and a return to the Filarmonica Toscanini in Parma where he was Artist In Residence last season. He gives recitals in Oxford, Rome, Venice, Porto, Toulouse and tours North America including performances in Washington and Miami.

Kholodenko’s recordings for Harmonia Mundi include the Grieg Piano Concerto and Saint-Saëns Piano Concerto No 2 which was awarded Editor’s Choice in Gramophone “a truly outstanding recording” and the complete cycle of Prokofiev Piano Concertos. His disc of solo works by Scriabin, received a Diapason d’Or de l’année and last season he released two further solo discs of works by Prokofiev and Tchaikovsky. Future plans include recording works by Chopin and Godovsky. For Arthaus he recorded Prokofiev Piano Concerto No 5 with the Mariinsky Theatre conducted by Valery Gergiev.

Vadym Kholodenko was born in Kyiv from Israeli heritage and gave his first concerts at the age of 13 in the USA, China, Hungary and Croatia. He studied at the Moscow State Conservatoire under Professor Vera Gornostaeva.

Photo (c) Jean-Baptiste Millot