Draft talk:Alexander Boldachev/Temp

Alexander (aka Sasha) Boldachev (born January 21, 1990) is a Russian-Swiss virtuoso harpist and composer. He is also an official artist of Salvi Harps, an invited soloist of the Bolshoi Theatre, as well as a teacher and the founder of the Game of Tones group.

Boldachev received awards from over 12 international competitions, among which the Prize for Culture from the European Cultural Foundation, Pro Europe. He was also the first non-British prize winner of the International Brilliant Prodigy Competition in the UK.

Biography

Early life

Alexander Boldachev was born in Saint Petersburg, Russia, to St. Petersburg Conservatory teacher Irina Sharapova, and futurologist Alexander Boldachev.

He started learning the piano with his mother when he was only three years old. At the age of five, having mastered both the harp and the piano, Alexander Boldachev started his performance career. In 1996, by the age of 6, he composed his first piece based on the story of The Wizard of Oz. This piece started his love for program music and set the tone for his approach to his future composition pieces.

Alexander Boldachev performed a piece by Sergei Slonimsky, written especially for him, in 1996, as a member of the Children’s Christmas Festival.

In 1997, he entered the St. Petersburg Conservatory, where he studied the harp with Karina Maleeva and composition with Svetlana Lavrova. He became a participant in the programs of the Saint Petersburg and Moscow Music Houses and Rotary Club.

He was a laureate of the Spivakov and Temirkanov Foundation and took part in the festivals « Musical Olympus », « New Names », « Mozart Festival », « Young performers of Russia », « Generation Next » and of the first competition named after Vera Dulova in Moscow.

Career

In 1999, Boldachev started his international career with his first international appearance, performing Handel’s Harp Concerto with the Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra.

He became a permanent participant of the World Harp Congress and was the laureate of more than ten contests in France, Belgium and Bulgaria.

He received awards in the field of culture, among which the Brilliant Prodigy Competition, for which he was the first non-British citizen awarded, and the ProEuropa award, for outstanding artistic talent and cultural achievements.

In 2001, at the age of 11, he started studying the harp with French harpist Catherine Michel.

In 2005, Boldachev moved to Zurich, Switzerland, where he entered the Zurich University of the Arts. and received degrees in harp performance, in composition, and in conducting.

Over the years, Boldachev performed at festivals and international harp congresses, among which Burning Man, the Olympus Festival, New Names, Mozart+, Davos and Gstaad in Switzerland, Big Russian Ball in Rome, Bravo Award, SKIF Sergey Kuroyokhin, Burberry and D&G shows, projects of The Moscow and St. Petersburg Houses of Music, "Young Performers of Russia", "Next Generation", "River of Talents".

In Russia, is a member of the jury of the contest "Nota Bene ».

As a guest soloist of the Bolshoi Theater of Russia, Boldachev took part in premiere productions, under the management of Maestro Tugan Sokhiev. In 2017, he performed on-stage harp numbers during the Premiere of the ballet « Nureyev » as part of a duet with the stars of the ballet.

Since 2017, Boldachev has been the Official Artist of Salvi Harps, representing not Only classical models of harps, but also modern, electro-acoustic instruments.

In 2018, Boldachev travelled through Europe, Asia and America, to perform solo concerts and give master classes at universities, among which the Juilliard School.

Composition

In 2015, Boldachev and violinist Alexander Kuznetsov formed the duet “Game of Tones” and filmed their variations on the Themes from Star Wars. On October 17th, 2015, the video clip was simultaneously shared during the intermission of the final concert of the 18th festival Days of Russian-German Culture held in Khabarovsk and during the closing ceremony of the World Harp Festival held in Monte Carlo.

In 2016, as a member of the Game of Tones group, Boldachev took part in his first tour in Russia.

That same year, Boldachev took part in the Premiere of Kirill Serebrennikov's theatre piece "A Poem Without a Hero », as a music director, composer, and performer.

In June 2018, he 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.