Vasily Stepanov was born in 1994 in Kazan. In 2018 he graduated from the Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory, subsequently completing a trainee-assistantship at the conservatory. From 2018 to 2020 he trained at the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía in Madrid (class of Jens Peter Maintz). Prize-winner at the Valery Gavrilin Governor’s International Youth Competition, the Sviatoslav Knushevitsky International Cello Competition, the International Competition Constellation of Talents, the Mravinsky International Competition for Youth , the Riga Classic Strings international competition and the All-Russian Music Competition. Frequently performs in recital. Appeared in Russia and internationally. Since 2017 he has been collaborating with stage director Dmitry Krymov. Took part in the recording of Kuzma Bodrov’s music for the films Sobibor by Konstantin Khabensky (2018), Brotherhood (Leaving Afghanistan) by Pavel Lungin (2019), Once Upon a Time in the Desert by Andrey Kravchuk (2022). Participant in programmes of the St Petersburg Music House since 2012. Currently teaches at the Gnesin Russian Academy of Music and the Gnessin Moscow Special School of Music.

Alexei Melnikov graduated from the Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory, where he studied under Sergei Dorensky and his assistants – Nikolai Lugansky, Pavel Nersessian and Andrei Pisarev. In 2010 he won 2nd prize at the International Piano Competition in memory of Vera Lotar-Shevchenko in Novosibirsk, in 2014 he took 1st prize and several special prizes at the San Marino International Piano Competition, and in 2015 he won 3rd prize at the Hamamatsu International Piano Competition. In 2017 he was a prize-winner at the Manhattan International Music Competition and gave a recital at Carnegie Hall in New York. In 2018 he received a prize from the Neva Foundation at the Verbier Music Academy and Festival. In 2019 he took 3rd prize at the International Tchaikovsky Competition. He has given recitals at the Concert Hall of the Mariinsky Theatre, the Salle Cortot in Paris, the Bunka Kaikan concert hall in Tokyo, the Žofín Palace in Prague, the Teatro La Fenice in Venice and the Grand Hall of the Moscow Conservatory as well as at other venues throughout Russia, Germany, Italy, France, Japan, the USA, Spain, and Vietnam. Has taken part in the International Chamber Music Festival in Cervo, the Animato music festival in Paris and the Moscow International H. Neuhaus Festival of Young Pianists.

This concert is not included in #зарядисьмузыкой (get charged by music) discount programme of the Moscow Concert Hall “Zaryadye”