Sergei Babayan

Sergei Babayan has long been venerated as a “pianist’s pianist” whose interpretations combine “quiet beauty and emotional fire” (The Times of London). Celebrated for his solo recitals, chamber concerts, and concerto collaborations with orchestras around the globe, the Armenian American pianist is an exclusive Deutsche Grammophon artist with a distinguished and award-winning discography. Bachtrack calls him “one of the greatest pianists of our time.” “This is piano playing of the very highest echelon,” agrees MusicWeb International. As Canada’s Le Devoir concludes, “Babayan is a genius. Period.”

In the 2025–26 season, Babayan continues exploring the evolution of lieder, folksong, and the art of melody in “Songs,” his imaginatively curated solo recital program. Combining solo pieces with song transcriptions by composers from Schubert, Schumann, and Rachmaninoff to Harold Arlen, Charles Trenet, and Armenian composer Komitas, this takes the pianist to Montreal’s International Bach Festival, California’s Philip Lorenz International Keyboard Concerts, Croatia’s Piano Loop Festival, the Grand Théâtre in Tours, France, and additional venues in France, Germany, and Switzerland. In concert, he makes his Atlanta Symphony debut with performances of Rachmaninoff’s Fourth Piano Concerto. Other orchestral highlights include his Royal Stockholm Philharmonic debut with the same composer’s Second Piano Concerto, led by Austrian conductor Emmanuel Tjeknavorian, and accounts of Saint-Saëns’s Second Piano Concerto with Michigan’s Grand Rapids Symphony and Marcelo Lehninger. He also joins fellow pianist Martha Argerich for a duo recital of Mozart, Debussy, Prokofiev, and Rachmaninoff, presented by Germany’s Mannheim Philharmonic.

Last season, Babayan played Bach’s Goldberg Variations at the Konzerthaus Dortmund and toured his “Songs” program to New Orleans, London, Verbier, Freiburg, Madrid, Málaga, and across Italy. As well as performing concertos by Brahms and Rachmaninoff with orchestras including Maryland’s National Philharmonic, Belgium’s Antwerp Symphony, and Poland’s NFM Wrocław Philharmonic, he played both Ravel concertos with Italy’s Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano to celebrate the composer’s 150th anniversary. At Switzerland’s Verbier Festival, he was joined by his former student and frequent piano partner Daniil Trifonov for Bartók with Klaus Mäkelä and the Verbier Festival Orchestra and for Brahms’s First Piano Quartet with Janine Jansen, Timothy Ridout, and Daniel Blendulf.

Acclaimed in concert for his “consummate technique and insight” (The New York Times), Babayan has worked with such revered conductors as Jader Bignamini, Alexander Briger, Thomas Dausgaard, Valery Gergiev, Neeme Järvi, Hannu Lintu, Klaus Mäkelä, Sir Antonio Pappano, Rafael Payare, Dima Slobodeniouk, Tugan Sokhiev, Dalia Stasevska, Gábor Takács-Nagy, Yuri Temirkanov, Xian Zhang, Scott Yoo, and Nikolaj Znaider, collaborating with some of the foremost orchestras worldwide. These include the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Czech State Philharmonic, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Mariinsky Orchestra, National Orchestra of Belgium, New York Philharmonic, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, Orchestre national de Lille, Orchestre philharmonique de Radio France, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Royal Bangkok Symphony, São Paulo Symphony, Toronto Symphony, Vancouver Symphony, Warsaw Philharmonic, and London Symphony Orchestra, with which he has appeared at the BBC Proms.

Babayan has undertaken artistic residencies with the Rotterdam Philharmonic and at the Konzerthaus Dortmund, where, as Curating Artist in 2019, he presented a festival featuring some of his closest musical associates: Martha Argerich, Sergey Khachatryan, Mischa Maisky, and Daniil Trifonov among them. He regularly performs at many of the world’s most prestigious venues, including New York’s Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, and Brooklyn Academy of Music; London’s Barbican, Royal Albert, and Wigmore Halls; and the Théâtre des Champs-Elyseés and Maison de la Radio in Paris, as well as Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, the Berlin Konzerthaus, Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie, Munich’s Prinzregententheater, Dortmund’s Konzerthaus, Alte Oper Frankfurt, the Vienna Konzerthaus, the Zurich Tonhalle, and the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires. Sought after by summer festivals on both sides of the Atlantic, he appears at the United States’ Aspen Music Festival, Bravo! Vail, and International Keyboard Odyssiad & Festival; Canada’s Vancouver Piano Sessions; London’s BBC Proms; France’s Piano aux Jacobins and Festival International de Piano de la Roque d’Anthéron; Switzerland’s Gstaad Menuhin and Verbier Festivals; and Austria’s Salzburg Festival. His chamber music partners include the Borodin Quartet; violinists Lisa Batiashvili, Ivry Gitlis, Janine Jansen, and Augustin Hadelich; cellists Gautier Capuçon and Mischa Maisky; baritone Matthias Goerne; and fellow pianists Argerich and Trifonov. “The firepower they achieved together is rare among piano duos,” writes The New York Times of his Trifonov partnership, while The Guardian considers his Argerich collaborations “sheer delight.”

As an exclusive Deutsche Grammophon artist since 2018, Babayan has made three recordings for the label. Recorded with Argerich, Prokofiev for Two (2018) captures his own two-piano transcriptions, prompting MusicWeb International to marvel: “World-class playing by both performers and the Babayan transcriptions are destined to be taken up by other pianists and incorporated into the mainstream repertoire.” His solo collection, Rachmaninoff (2020), was chosen as BBC Music Magazine’s “Recording of the Month” and designated a “Choc-Classica” by France’s Classica magazine, which pronounced the album “one big masterpiece.” Most recently, Rachmaninoff for Two (2024), recorded with Trifonov to mark the composer’s 150th anniversary, was not only hailed as “a winning mix of limitless pianism, deep knowledge and visionary boldness” by BBC Music Magazine but also recognized with France’s coveted Diapason d’or de l’année award. Earlier in his career, Babayan recorded for Connoisseur Society, Discover Records, and Pro Piano Records, for which his 20th-century collection of Messiaen, Respighi, Ligeti, and Carl Vine was a New York Times Critic’s Choice. As well as streaming to audiences worldwide on Medici TV, his performances have been broadcast by Britain’s BBC TV and BBC Radio 3, Radio France, and Japan’s NHK Satellite Television.

Sergei Babayan was born into a musical family in Armenia during the Soviet occupation. After receiving his first piano lessons from Luiza Markaryan and Georgy Saradjev, a leading representative of the St. Petersburg school and former student of the legendary Vladimir Sofronitsky, he went on to study at the Moscow Conservatory with Lev Naumov, Vera Gornostayeva, and Mikhail Pletnev. In 1989, following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Babayan came to the West, drawing international notice with first-prize wins at the Cleveland, Hamamatsu, and Scottish International Piano Competitions. Now an American citizen, he makes his home in New York City.