Sergei Babayan, "one of the greatest pianists of our time" (Bachtrack), has long been celebrated for "the quiet beauty and emotional fire" (The Times) of his interpretations. As an exclusive Deutsche Grammophon artist, he has a growing discography of award-winning recordings to his name. Le Figaro praises his "incomparable touch, his perfectly harmonious phrasing and his breathtaking virtuosity". Le Devoir from Montreal put it this way: "Sergei Babayan is a genius. Period."
Sergei Babayan has worked with conductors such as Sir Antonio Pappano, David Robertson, Neeme Järvi, Rafael Payare, Thomas Dausgaard, Valery Gergiev, Tugan Sokhiev and Dima Slobodeniouk. He has performed with the London Symphony Orchestra at the BBC Proms, as well as at the Théâtre des Champs-Elyseés in Paris, the Salzburg Festival and the Rotterdam Philharmonic Festival as Artist in Residence.
In recent seasons, Sergei Babayan has played alongside the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, the Toronto Symphony, the Vancouver Symphony and the Verbier Festival Orchestra, among others. He performs regularly in the world's most prestigious concert halls, including the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall in London, the Vienna Konzerthaus, the Prinzregententheater in Munich, the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, the Maison de la Radio in Paris, the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, the Alte Oper Frankfurt and the Tonhalle Zurich. He has performed at major festivals including La Roque d'Anthéron, Piano aux Jacobins in Toulouse, Gstaad Menuhin Festival and Verbier Festival.
Sergei Babayan has shared the stage with the world's leading orchestras, including the London Symphony Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Gewandhaus Orchestra, the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, the Warsaw Philharmonic, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre National de Lille, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Sergei Babayan was the first Curating Artist at the Konzerthaus Dortmund.
As a passionate chamber musician, he regularly performs together with other outstanding soloists. His close musical partners to date have included Mischa Maisky, Matthias Goerne, Martha Argerich, Ivry Gitlis, the Borodin Quartet, Sergey Khachatryan, Gidon Kremer and Daniil Trifonov.
Deutsche Grammophon (DG) recently released Sergei Babayan's recording of Sergei Rachmaninoff's works for two pianos, which he realized together with his former student Daniil Trifonov ("Rachmaninoff for Two", DG 2024, awarded the CHOC Classica 2024 and described by BBC Music Magazine as "one of the best classical albums of the year"). His latest solo release "Rachmaninoff" (DG 2020) was hailed by the press as a groundbreaking recording and received numerous awards, including BBC Recording of the Month and CHOC Classica ("This musical journey, born of a boundless imagination and thinking down to the smallest detail, is one great masterpiece.") The DG release of his own transcriptions of works by Sergei Prokofiev for two pianos with Martha Argerich as his partner ("Prokofiev for Two", DG 2018) was praised by critics as "the CD you've been waiting for" (Le Devoir), an "electrifying duo that shakes the listener" (Pianiste).
The pianist's performances have been broadcast by Radio France, BBC Television, BBC Radio 3, NHK Satellite Television and Medici TV, among others.
Sergei Babayan was born into a musical family in Armenia, where he began his studies with Georgy Saradjev. He continued his training at the Moscow Conservatory with Mikhail Pletnev, Vera Gornostayeva and Lev Naumov. After his first trip outside the USSR in 1989, he won first prizes at several major competitions in quick succession, including the Cleveland International Piano Competition, the Hamamatsu Piano Competition and the Scottish International Piano Competition. He is an American citizen and lives in New York City.