Alexis Golovin facts for kids

Alexis Fyodorovich Golovin (Russian: Алексей Фёдорович Головин) (October 31, 1945 – July 12, 2023) was a famous classical pianist from Russia. He was known for his amazing piano playing and for teaching many students who became successful musicians.

Early Life and Training

Alexis Golovin started playing the piano when he was just five years old. His first teacher was Anna Artobolevskaya at the Central Music School of Moscow. Later, he continued his studies at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory. There, he learned both piano and musicology, which is the study of music.

He finished his musical education at the Geneva Conservatory. He won a special award there for being an incredibly skilled and brilliant performer. This award showed how talented he was at playing the piano.

A World-Renowned Pianist

Alexis Golovin won prizes at important music competitions. These included the Casagrande Competition in Terni and the Busoni Competition in Bolzano. After winning these awards, he performed in many countries around the world. He gave concerts in Europe, Asia, Southern Africa, North America, and South America. He also played at some of the most famous music festivals.

He often performed with other great musicians. One famous collaboration was with the pianist Martha Argerich. Golovin also played new pieces of music for the very first time. These included the Second and Third sonatas by the composer Ginastera. He always stayed connected to his home country, Russia. He often performed in Moscow's biggest concert halls, like the Great Hall of the Tchaikovsky Conservatory. He also played with the State Philharmonic Orchestra.

Teaching and Recordings

Alexis Golovin spent a lot of time teaching music. He was a professor at the Geneva Conservatory. Many of his students won top awards in international music competitions. This showed how good he was at teaching.

He also made many recordings of his music. These recordings included works by famous composers like Chopin and Schumann. He recorded Rachmaninoff's Etudes Tableaux and pieces by Scriabin. His recordings also featured Liszt's Piano Concerto No. 1, his B minor Sonata, and the Mephisto Waltz. He recorded chamber music, which is music for a small group of instruments. He also recorded piano concertos by Mozart, Rachmaninoff, Scriabin, Nikolai Tcherepnin, and Rodion Shchedrin.

Golovin also taught many special classes called master classes. These classes were held at famous places like the Internationale Sommerakademie Mozarteum in Salzburg. He also taught at the Manhattan School of Music, the Conservatory of Buenos-Aires, and the Conservatory of Moscow. Other places included the Oxford Philomusica Summer Academy and the Canton International Summer Music Academy.

Alexis Golovin was married to Maya Simon, an actress from Switzerland. They had a daughter named Marina Golovine, who is also an actress.

Sources

• http://oxfordphil.com/piano/113/Past%20festivals
• https://web.archive.org/web/20101231003850/http://www.rsi.ch/argerich/welcome.cfm?lng=1&ids=491&idc=10144