Nikolai Lugansky performs Feb. 12 in UAB Piano Series

Pianist Nikolai Lugansky will perform works by Debussy, Scriabin and Rachmaninoff for the University of Alabama at Birmingham Piano Series on Tuesday, Feb. 12.

The UAB Piano Series, presented by the College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Music, brings the world’s finest pianists to Birmingham. Distinguished Professor of Piano and Artist-in-Residence Yakov Kasman, a Van Cliburn medalist, directs the series.

Lugansky has performed for sold-out audiences at UAB and returns for another stunning performance. He is considered one of the world’s great interpreters of piano repertoire and receives high praise for his concerts, recitals and chamber music performances around the world.

Lugansky’s performance is set for 7 p.m. in UAB’s Alys Stephens Performing Arts Center, Reynolds-Kirschbaum Recital Hall. Tickets are $15, $5 for students through grade 12 and UAB employees; free to UAB students. Call 205-975-2787 for tickets. Call 205-934-7376 or visit www.uab.edu/cas/music for more information.

On the program for his UAB performance are Debussy’s “Suite bergamasque,” Images Book 2, L. 111, and “L’Isle Joyeuse”; Scriabin’s Sonata No. 3 in F-sharp minor, Op. 23; and Rachmaninoff’s Selections from Preludes, Op. 32.

Lugansky’s musical ability was evident early: When he was only 5 years old, before he had even been taught to read music, he went to a neighbor’s house and played a Beethoven sonata from memory, having learned the music by ear. He studied piano at the Moscow Central Music School and the Moscow Conservatory.

His awards include first prize in the All-Union Competition in Tbilisi, silver medal at the International Bach Competition in Leipzig, second prize at Moscow’s Rachmaninoff Competition, “Best Pianist” in 1992 at the International Summer Academy Mozarteum in Austria and winner of the 1994 Tchaikovsky Competition. He received the Diaspason d’Or in 2000, 2001 and 2002, and won the Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik in 2003, the BBC Music Magazine Award in 2011 and the Sergei Rachmaninoff International Award in 2016. He was named the People’s Artist of Russia in 2013. Lugansky teaches at the Moscow Conservatory.