Roman Rabinovich

Praised by The New York Times for his “uncommon sensitivity and feeling”, the eloquent young pianist Roman Rabinovich was top prizewinner of the 12th Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition in Israel in 2008, He made his Israel Philharmonic debut under Zubin Mehta at the age of 10, and has since appeared as a soloist throughout Europe and the United States, most recently with orchestras including the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and Sir Roger Norrington, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Meiningen Hofkapelle, Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Música, the NFM Leopoldinum Orchestra and Szczecin Philharmonic in Europe, and Seattle Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic, Sarasota Orchestra, Des Moines Symphony, Sinfonia Boca Raton in the US.

Dubbed “a true polymath, in the Renaissance sense of the word” (Seen & Heard International, 2016), Rabinovich is also a composer and visual artist, regularly enhancing his performances and CDs with his own artwork. Roman Rabinovich was a top prizewinner at the 12th Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition in 2008, while in 2015, he was selected by Sir András Schiff as one of three pianists for the inaugural “Building Bridges” series, created to highlight young pianists of unusual promise. Rabinovich has earned critical praise for his explorations of the piano music of Haydn. At the 2018 Bath Festival, he presented a 10-recital 42-sonata series, earning praise in The Sunday Times. Prior to that, in 2016 as artist in Residence at the Lammermuir Festival in Scotland, he performed 25 Haydn sonatas in 5 days, and he has also performed a complete sonata cycle in Tel Aviv. He is currently undertaking a recording project of the complete sonatas for First Hand Records, the with the second volume released in 2021, earning him a 5-star review in the International Piano Magazine.

Mr. Rabinovich’s 2022-23 highlights include Tchaikovsky Concerto no. 1 with Royal Scottish National Orchestra and Ludovic Morlot, Greig Concerto with Edmonton Symphony and Michael Stern, Bach d minor Concerto with NFM Leopoldinum and Joseph Swensen, Schubert/Liszt “Wanderer” Fantasy with Israel Symphony and Christoph Koenig, Rachmaninov Concerto no. 2 with Punta Gorda Symphony, Mozart Concerto K. 488 with Helena Symphony.

He has given recitals in venues such as Wigmore Hall and Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Centre in New York, the Great Hall of Moscow Conservatory, the Cité de la Musique in Paris, and the Terrace Theater of Kennedy Center in Washington DC, and has participated in festivals including Marlboro, Lucerne, Davos, Prague Spring, Klavier-Festival Ruhr, and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Through the 2020-21 global pandemic, Rabinovich and his wife violinist Diana Cohen gave a very successful series of free weekly concerts from their front yard in Calgary. Together they are co-artistic directors of ChamberFest Cleveland as well as newly inaugurated festival in Calgary, ChamberFest West.

Highlights of Roman Rabinovich’s 2021-22 season include the Berg Kammerkonzert with violinist Kolja Blacher and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, solo recital tours in UK and US including a three-concert Haydn Day at Wigmore Hall, his debut at the Lofoten Piano Festival and a return to the Capital Region Classical series. Chamber music partnerships this season include violinists Kristof Borati and Benjamin Beilman, cellist Camille Thomas, pianist Zoltán Fejérvári and the Escher and Dover Quartets

Born in Tashkent, Roman Rabinovich immigrated to Israel with his family in 1994 where he began his studies with Irena Vishnevitsky and Arie Vardi, and at age10 made his Israel Philharmonic debut under the baton of Zubin Mehta. He went on to graduate from the Curtis Institute of Music as a student of Seymour Lipkin, and earned his Master’s Degree at the Juilliard School where he studied with Robert McDonald. He currently resides in Canada with his wife violinist Diana Cohen and daughter Noa.