Alexander Boldachev is a virtuoso harpist, composer, teacher, world-renowned musician
He is official artist of Salvi Harps, invited soloist of the Bolshoi Theatre and Laureate of more than a dozen prestigious international competitions. He has been awarded by Britain's Brilliant Prodigies, Pro Europa in Austria and has received an Aoyama Music Award in Japan.
Alexander was born in Saint Petersburg and has been playing both the harp and piano and composing music since the age of five. He began music lessons in France when he was twelve and has been living in Zurich since the age of fifteen. He studied at Zurich University of the Arts and graduated under professor Catherine Michel, studying piano, composition, and conducting. Today he has a busy concert schedule traveling around the world.
In June 2018 Alexander performed his own composition on the Delta Electric Harp at the opening ceremony of the FIFA World Cup, sharing the stage with Robbie Williams and Aida Garifullina. In the same year, Alexander received the prize for Best Rock Song Cover from the Akademia Music Awards in Los Angeles for his unique performance of the Red Hot Chilli Peppers' song Californication on the harp.
His extensive compositional activity concentrates on expanding the harp repertoire with transcriptions of classical music (Scheherazade, Petrushka, Romeo & Juliet), interpretations of popular hits (The Beatles, AC/DC, Deep Purple, Nirvana, Scorpions, Adele) and music for motion pictures (Pirates of the Caribbean, The Fifth Element, Spirited Away, James Bond). Alexander writes his own classical, electronic music and improvises, performing his own compositions in concerts.
In 2017, Alexander was invited to the Bolshoi Theatre by its musical director Tugan Sokhiev to perform in premieres of Carmen, Damnation of Faust and the acclaimed Nureyev, where he edited and played the unique solo for the Harp on stage. Since 2017 Alexander has been working as a music director, composer and the actor for the theatre piece Akhmatova: Poem without a hero in Gogol Centre, created by Alla Demidova and Kirill Serebrennikov. Alexander conducts and moderates different types of performances and shows including collaborations with ballet dancers, actors, instrumentalists, and even circus artists.
Among his recordings are the Harp as an Orchestra with favourite Opera tunes, From Russia with Harp with 15 Russian composers and several joint projects with violin, flute, piano and harp.
As a teacher, Alexander gives masterclasses at universities including the Academy, the Liszt Academy, the Julliard School, and the Royal Conservatory in Toronto.
Image: Erica Dias