“[…] his improvisatory instincts and formidable analytic powers enliven everything he touches, abetted by a technique that knows no difficulties plus a keen ear for nuance and tone colour.”
Gramophone Magazine, November 2021

“Alexander has the rare ability to hypnotise the public with his narrative ability. His interpretation of Bach/Busoni’s Chaconne was one of the high points of the entire competition. I was genuinely hypnotised by it. Gadjiev has true elegance and passion.”
Sergey Babayan, Hamamatsu International Piano Competition 2015

Alexander Gadjiev’s musical experience and Central European cultural background stem both from his family, where both parents are piano teachers and musicians, and from his hometown of Gorizia, an Italian-Slovenian border town at a natural crossroads of peoples, cultures, and languages. These factors have shaped his extraordinary ability to absorb, interpret, and reshape diverse musical styles. He speaks five languages: Italian, Slovenian, English, German, and Russian, and serves as cultural ambassador of his hometown Nova Gorica/Gorizia, European Capital of Culture 2025.

In 2021, he won 1st prize at the International Piano Competition in Sydney, as well as 2nd prize at the International Chopin Competition, together with the special “Krystian Zimerman Prize for the Performance of a Chopin Sonata.” From 2019 to 2021, he was a BBC New Generation Artist, performing at prestigious British festivals and concert halls, including Wigmore Hall in London, with concerts recorded and broadcast by the BBC. In 2022, he won the Terence Judd Award, leading to further engagements with the Hallé Orchestra. At age 20, he won 1st prize at the Hamamatsu International Piano Competition, receiving the Audience Award, and at 22, 1st prize at the World Piano Masters in Montecarlo. 

Taught by his father, he played with an orchestra for the first time at nine and gave his first solo concert at ten. In 2013, he graduated school with top grades, winning the 30th edition of the Premio Venezia competition for Italy’s best young talents. He studied at the Mozarteum in Salzburg with P. Gililov and at the Hanns-Eisler Hochschule in Berlin with E. Nebolsin, graduating in spring 2022.

Alexander Gadjiev regularly performs across Europe, Asia, and the USA, appearing at the Verbier Festival, MiTo Festival in Turin, the Chopin Festival in Duszniki, Piano Festival Rafael Orozco in Cordoba, Ljubljana Festival, Bologna Festival, Festival Animato de Paris, Salzburg Festival, Festival International de Piano de La Roque d’Anthéron, Teatro La Fenice, Kioi Hall and Bunka Kaikan in Tokyo, Kitara Concert Hall in Sapporo, Hyogo Performing Arts Center in Osaka, Salle Cortot in Paris, and the Moscow Conservatory etc.

As a soloist, he has performed with the Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto, Orchestra Sinfonica del Teatro della Fenice, Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, Nagoya Philharmonic Orchestra, Kyoto Symphony Orchestra, Prague Symphony Orchestra, and Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra.In April 2022, he made his triumphant debut with the Orchestra Nazionale della Rai under Fabio Luisi, receiving an immediate re-invitation. A 50-day tour of Australia and Southeast Asia took place in late 2022, with a tour of Japan in 2023.

Alexander Gadjiev has numerous radio and television recordings, both in studio and live performances. His debut album Literary Fantasies, featuring works by Liszt and Schumann, was released in 2018 on the Acousense label, followed by the live recording of the International Piano Competition in Sydney on DECCA in 2021.