Mikhail Pletnev
Pianist
Renowned musician, conductor, and composer who won the 1978 Gold Medal at the VI International Tchaikovsky Competition.
He studied with the famed Yakov Flier and Lev Vlassenko at the Moscow Conservatory.
He conducted a meaningful recitation of A German Requiem by Brahms in 2011 with Staatskapelle Dresden in memory of the Dresden firestorm.
His family was musical: his father was a bayan player and teacher, and his mother was a pianist.
He idolized Sergei Rachmaninoff and modeled both his teaching and his performances after the master.