Nikolai Tokarev plays \'Montagues and Capulets\' (prokofiev)

Montagues and Capulets also known as Dance of the Knights is a score composed by Sergei Prokofiev. It is from Act I, Scene 2 of the ballet Romeo and Juliet.



Nikolai Tokarev was born in Moscow in 1983 into a musical household: his father Alexander, likewise a concert pianist, gave young Nikolai his earliest lessons; his mother Lyubov Rosenova is a cellist in the Moscow State Philharmonic. At the age of 5, Nikolai was admitted into the Gnessin Music School for gifted children, and soon was dazzling his professors: in the words of Anna Kantor, "[Tokarev] is an extraordinary pianist; artists like that appear very rarely." He graduated from the Gnessin School in 2001 with highest honors.

Nikolai's concert career began at age 6; and since 1996 has toured within Japan, Canada, France, Austria, and elsewhere. He regularly performs in solo recitals and festivals, including concerto concerts with such orchestras as the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, the Vienna Chamber Orchestra, and the Dresdner Kappellesollsten. His repertory extends from standard piano works (Bach, Mozart, Scarlatti, etc.) to include modern works by Stravinsky and Alexander Rosenblatt, himself a featured composer at the Classical Archives. Among Nikolai's awards thus far include a top prize at the 10th Eurovision Grand Prix of Young Musicians (2000), under a jury led by conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen. Nikolai continues to study at the Moscow Gnessin Academy and to attend Master Classes with such pianists as Rudolf Buchbinder. He is clearly a young pianist to watch!