Victor Chestopal
Victor Chestopal was born 1975 in Moscow into a family of musicians, scientists, and artists. His first piano lessons, at the age of five, were under the guidance of his mother Victoria Yagling, cellist and composer, a former Mstislav Rostropovich student and Tchaikovsky competition prize-winner. At the age of six Chestopal was enrolled as a pupil at the Gnessin Music School, and three years later at the Central Music School of the Tchaikovsky Conservatoire. There his teachers were Tamara Bobovich, Alexander Mndoyants, Professor Lev Vlassenko and Mikhail Pletnev.
At the age of twelve Chestopal performed Mendelssohn’s G minor Piano Concerto in Saratov and the following year he gave a solo recital at Moscow’s Rachmaninoff Concert Hall. In 1991 Chestopal played before the Pope John Paul II at the Vatican as a soloist in Prokofiev’s First Piano Concerto with Russian National Orchestra conducted by Mikhail Pletnev.
Chestopal has lived in Helsinki since 1990 and he became a Finnish citizen in 1997, graduating with a Master’s degree from the Sibelius Academy in 2001. His studies at the Sibelius Academy were under the guidance of Professor Erik T. Tawaststjerna. During the studies at the Accademia Pianistica “Incontri col Maestro” in Imola (Italy), 1992-1997, and at the Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt in Weimar (Germany), 1995-1997, Chestopal’s teacher was Lazar Berman. In 2001-2002 Chestopal had an opportunity to play several times for Mstislav Rostropovich. Victor Chestopal is a prize-winner of major competitions:
1990 – Italy, First Prize, Carlo Soliva International Music Competition at Casale Monferrato. 1993 – Italy, First Prize, Third Città di Cantù International Competition for piano and orchestra. 1994 – Finland, Second Prize, Maj Lind Piano Competition. 1995 – Belgium, Finalist at the Queen Elisabeth Competition. 1997 – USA, Van Cliburn Piano Competition discretionary award.
Chestopal has performed in Russia, USA, Finland, Great Britain, Italy, Vatican, Germany, Switzerland, Luxemburg, France, Belgium, Czech Republic, Poland and Serbia, appearing in concert halls like Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, Salle Gaveau in Paris, Schauspielhaus in Berlin, Herkulessaal in Munich, Great Hall of Moscow Conservatoire, and Finlandia Hall in Helsinki. Victor Chestopal has been a guest of many European festivals, such as Festival de Wallonie, Naantali Festival, Janacek May, Brancaster Midsummer Music.
Chestopal has appeared as a soloist with such orchestras as Moscow Philharmonic, Russian National Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Janacek Philharmonic and Orchestre Philharmonique de Liège, the conductors including Mikhail Pletnev, Dennis Burkh, Pierre Bartholomée and Aleksandar Markovic among others. In the domain of chamber music Chestopal has collaborated with Victoria Yagling, Arto Noras, Xavier Phillips, David Grimal and Tokyo String Quartet. Chestopal has recorded for Melodiya (BMG), Russian Disc, Ricercar.
- His latest recording, Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 3 with Serbian Radio and Television Orchestra conducted by Aleksandar Markovic, will be soon issued on CD by the Record Production of the Radio and Television of Serbia.
- In 2006 Victor Chestopal has commenced the Doctoral Degree’s Arts program at the Sibelius Academy, which comprises five recitals dedicated to the cornerstones of the piano repertoire (Bach’s Goldberg Variations; Beethoven’s Grosse Sonate für das Hammerklavier, opus 106; Schubert’s Sonata in B flat major D 960; Brahms’ Sonata No. 3, op. 5; Liszt’s Sonata in B minor among other works) and the doctoral thesis on the subject of Bach’s Goldberg Variations.
- Victor Chestopal conducted piano master-classes at the Ostrava University and Janacek Conservatoire (Czech Republic) and leads annual piano master-classes in Liège (Belgium).